Melanoma Institute Australia, The University of Sydney, North Sydney, NSW, Australia; Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Division of Surgery, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Western Australia.
J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2023 Dec;87:24-32. doi: 10.1016/j.bjps.2023.09.047. Epub 2023 Sep 15.
Harold Gillies, plastic surgeon, and Donald Morton, surgical oncologist, were iconic pioneers in their respective fields. Both of them made their mark by identifying crucial practical problems and finding innovative ways of solving them. Gillies grappled with the challenge of restoring form and function to British military personnel injured in World War I, and he set up a dedicated facility for performing this work. He introduced many new reconstructive techniques that became the foundation of the modern specialty of plastic and reconstructive surgery, which he established and nurtured. Morton, in the United States, applied his problem-solving skills to the long-debated question of the best way to manage regional lymph nodes in patients with melanoma. He developed the innovative technique of sentinel lymph node biopsy and initiated large-scale international clinical trials to establish its validity and clinical value. This and other important contributions to the emerging field of surgical oncology earned Morton his reputation as a pioneer and leader of that specialty. The problems that confronted Gillies and Morton were completely different, but both demonstrated remarkable skills as master problem-solvers in their respective fields and made extraordinary contributions to the body of knowledge and welfare of patients. All surgeons must be problem-solvers because every patient who presents for surgical management represents a new problem (or set of problems) to be addressed. As surgeons, we would do well to consider individuals such as Gillies and Morton as role models for our own problem-solving activities in day-to-day clinical practice.
哈罗德·吉利斯（Harold Gillies），整形外科医生，唐纳德·莫顿（Donald Morton），外科肿瘤学家，他们是各自领域的标志性先驱。他们都通过识别关键的实际问题并找到创新的解决方案而留下了自己的印记。吉利斯致力于解决在第一次世界大战中受伤的英国军人的形态和功能恢复问题，并为此设立了一个专门的机构来开展这项工作。他引入了许多新的重建技术，这些技术成为现代整形外科的基础，他还创立并培养了这一学科。在美国，莫顿运用他的解决问题的技能，解决了黑色素瘤患者区域淋巴结管理的最佳方法这一长期存在的争议问题。他开发了创新的前哨淋巴结活检技术，并发起了大规模的国际临床试验，以确定其有效性和临床价值。这一技术和他在不断发展的外科肿瘤学领域的其他重要贡献，使莫顿赢得了该专业先驱和领导者的声誉。吉利斯和莫顿所面临的问题完全不同，但他们都在各自的领域表现出了非凡的解决问题的能力，并为知识体系和患者的福祉做出了非凡的贡献。所有外科医生都必须是问题解决者，因为每个接受手术治疗的患者都代表着一个需要解决的新问题（或一组问题）。作为外科医生，我们应该像吉利斯和莫顿这样的人作为我们在日常临床实践中解决问题活动的榜样。
