Q&A: William Saar, D.O. (’96)
Orthopedic surgery
When
did you choose orthopedic surgery and why?
I love mechanical things—I almost
studied to became an engineer—and I love working with my
hands. Also, with this field, you get to see outcomes
pretty quickly. I appreciate that more exact nature of
things. A lot of times with medicine you’re dealing with
complicated chronic diseases that never really go away.
Orthopedics is more straight-forward, and you’re often
dealing with a younger population, so you can really
focus in on a problem and solve it.
What
surprised you about orthopedic surgery?
It can be difficult, especially for
a surgeon, to learn about the more personal side of
medicine. As a surgeon, you’re so excited to get into
the surgery room—to do the procedures—you forget that
you have to deal with the patients after that. You have
to realize that surgery is not just about surgery. You
have to interact with patients and their families, and
you need the right communications skills to do that.
Surgery’s one thing, but what happens after that person
wakes up also takes a lot of training.
What
do you find most challenging about being a doctor?
Preparing for the business of
medicine. There’s a lot about medicine that you don’t
learn in the classroom. I’d tell students to take the
initiative, ask questions during clinical rotations—not
just, ‘How did you treat that disease?’ But also, ‘Why
did you bill it that way?’ In medical school, you’re so
overwhelmed with learning the medicine; you often don’t
think to ask about this stuff.
What’s
it like returning to OU-HCOM?
This is the first time I’ve been
back since graduation. On seeing the river I remembered
coming here for my first interview… I’ll admit, being
from Cleveland, I was a little worried about coming to a
small town in Southern Ohio. I was surprised though that
I adjusted so quickly. OU-HCOM turned out to be a great
fit.
What’s
your advice for students considering your field?
It’s very competitive, so be
prepared. Always have a plan B.
