This week, on ADVENTing, Dr. Madan Kandula and Dr. Ethan Handler discuss how short procedures lead to living better for a lifetime.
Dr. Handler:
So what about when patients, you know, we both been in the rooms before and maybe they're talking to us about their, uh, what the procedure costs and they're happy most of the time and they really are, but, and they say something like, man, that was a pretty expensive procedure for 15 minutes. Right. You know, what, what, what's your thought on that? What do you say to that?Dr. Kandula:
Um, you know, I don't say this directly, I, I, but I would add, my thought is, is what would the insurance company and what people are actually paying for, it's, it's not the minutes, it's the years, right? It's the years of, in order to, I think it's kind of weird, but you know, most of our procedures that we do nowadays are in the office. So patients are awake, they're there, they're with it. They're seeing us. And part of our, part of the art to doing what we do is being able to, um, tactfully and artfully deal with somebody when they're awake and talk them through a procedure while you're doing a procedure. Um, it's a bit of a magic trick that we don't like if we, if we're in the or, we do not have to do that. If you're in the operating room, you know, patient's asleep, you can do what you need to do.Dr. Kandula
You don't have to, you know, you're, you're really focused on the task at hand and you can, you can, you can do that when you, when somebody is in the office, patient's awake. Um, therefore, part of your job is to be their guide through the process. And you know, I, I feel like that's, that's something that we do exceptionally well because we put very much thought into it. But the flip side of that is, is that, um, when you do something sort of that seems effortless, that in fact took years and years of effort and process, it somehow almost comes back to like, you know, sort of, um, jumped back up at ya. And that's what we do. We do that every day. And, and that's, and that, not that we're going to not do that, but I think somebody you know, might say, boy, that was, that was, boy, that was, that seems simple and easy and yeah, and it did, it was pretty quick.Dr. Kandula:
Yes. All that's true anywhere other than here, that simple and easy thing would have taken massively no longer a typical procedure that we could do very quickly in a, in another setting. It's usually, uh, 10 times longer than that. And also not with that level of, of, um, you know, tapped and artfulness. And so, yeah, I mean at the end of the day, you know, we were paid to do a job and get the job done and do that in the right way and how we would want to have something done. And we hone those skills, we hone our surgical skills and our, uh, bedside manner, all those things to try to be the best that we can be. And, um, yeah, the goal is to make it look effortless, although when you make something look effortless, um,Dr. Handler:
People think it looks easy. It's not at all. And I think that that's really the, the value for patients and coming here is that right? So I mean that's where patients are, you know, cause you know, we talk to patients about this that like you don't want me to do this for 45 minutes. Right? Like, like the shorter I keep you on your back having something going on inside your nose, the happier you will be. Sure. And so and so there's a lot of effort and, and practice and like you said, refining of skills and, and that goes into that to make sure it's as quick as it can be, but still accomplishing a lot.Dr. Kandula:
Yup. Absolutely. Get it done, get it done right and, uh, efficiently. And, um, that's a good thing. And so that's it. It's a point that sometimes gets lost. Um, you know, but it, it is important, uh, meaning that, uh, there, there's a method behind the, the art there. Uh, and there's also a lot of hidden work that's happening cause it isn't, it's not even just, I guess when you go beyond the actual procedure itself, when we're doing a procedure, that's great. But in order to be able to do that procedure, you need to be a board certified ENT surgeon, which takes decades in the making. And so there's not many of us. So as far as the ENTs in the role, there's about 300 ENTs that come out of training every year in this country. So 300 there, we're not talking about a lot. And so you take that limited resource and um, you, you further train it up and you, you, you know, sort of it, yes, it's an expensive proposition as far as the talent that we're utilizing. Um, but um,Dr. Handler:
well, and then find surgeons that are like at ADVENT that have the volume of doing those procedures that we have. And so there's an expertise expertise with that as well. Yeah. You know, I mean it's, when I did my first procedure ever, it wasn't as fast as I'm doing procedures now.Dr. Kandula:
Absolutely. And then, yeah.Dr. Handler:
And benefit, you know, patients benefit for being later downstream on that one in efficiency.Dr. Kandula:
Absolutely. But yeah, I mean, and this is not just proof for what we do. This is true throughout medicine. If you are going to have something done, you know how, where you wanted done and how you want it done is by somebody who does a lot. Fill in the blank. Whatever that is, does a lot of those things does them well, you know, so it gets good results. It does them efficiently. Uh, that's what you want. And that's what we have. And all that we do is, are, are the procedures that we're talking about. And so we better be able to elevate our game that way. I think that we do, uh, hope that we do. I know that we do. Um, but yeah, absolutely. It's, it's, it's that, that magic of process, which, um, you know, makes all the difference in the world. So, yeah.