Dr. Bill Parker was selected as the Honorary Chair for the Global Congress of Minimally Invasive Surgery, attended by 2,000 gynecologists from more than 60 countries.
Dr. Parker’s Honorary Lecture, Everything You Learned in Your Residency Will Turn Out to be Wrong, called attention to the resistance to change in medicine despite rapidly-evolving science and the opportunity to share new information over the internet. He stressed that, for gynecologists, the misguided reliance on hysterectomy as often the first recommendation for gynecologic problems was based on old teaching. The hysterectomy recommendation often is easier, more profitable or more fun for the doctor, rather than what is right for the patient.
Dr. Parker also asked for the acronym Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) to be redefined as Minimally Invasive Solution (MIS), with diminished emphasis on surgery and increased emphasis on alternative methods. If surgery is necessary, the focus should be on uterine-conserving procedures – suggesting that even for large fibroids, women often prefer an abdominal myomectomy through a bikini incision instead of laparoscopic or robotic hysterectomy.
Dr. Parker encouraged new doctors to keep learning and to keep an open mind to new ideas. Although technology may bring some benefits, the simple ideas of close patient relationships, operating room patient-safety principles, and kindness should be encouraged above all. Dr. Parker ended the talk by asking doctors to have the intellectual humility to understand that new and better ideas will always on the way. The 2,000 attendees of the conference gave Dr. Parker a standing ovation.
Video of Dr. Parker’s lecture is below:
