His back to the camera, Donald M. Kastenbaum, MD, left, with members of his Mount Sinai team and staff at the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University in Yinchuan, performed a knee replacement procedure that was broadcast to more than 1,000 people gathered at the hospital auditorium and four local hospitals.
Donald M. Kastenbaum, MD, has been traveling to China each year for more than 15 years to teach orthopedic surgeons the latest techniques in orthopedic hip and knee surgery. This year, he and his four-person team at Mount Sinai Beth Israel were invited by the Chinese government and the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, in Yinchuan, a city of nearly 2 million people about 400 miles southwest of Beijing.
Dr. Kastenbaum is Physician-in-Chief and Vice Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. His team included Albert Toe, PA; Matthew Renner, PA; Jin Hee Choi, RN; and Suriya Sriprasertying, RN.
The group’s three-day visit in early February involved a 13-hour flight to Beijing and a two-hour flight to Yinchuan. The next morning, Dr. Kastenbaum began giving the first of multiple lectures—with slides and case studies in English and Chinese—followed by hospital rounds and several total knee replacement surgeries.
“It was an amazing opportunity to share our knowledge with our counterparts in China and allow our team members to learn firsthand about medical practices in another part of the world, all while building the Mount Sinai brand,” says Dr. Kastenbaum, who is also Vice President/Medical Director of Perioperative Services for the Mount Sinai Health System, and is considered an expert in operating room safety and efficiency.
Members of the Mount Sinai orthopedics team at the hospital in Yinchuan: from left, Matthew Renner, PA; Suriya Sriprasertying, RN; Donald M. Kastenbaum, MD; Jin Hee Choi, RN; and Albert Toe, PA.
During the visit, Dr. Kastenbaum was able to put into practice his belief that success in the surgical suite is based not just on his own skills—honed over the course of performing more than 6,000 total hip and knee replacements— but on his team approach. This approach methodically addresses a range of interoperative issues, such as how to set up the operating room, ensure sterility, account for all instruments, and decrease the risk of infection, while focusing on efficiency, not speed. It also recognizes the importance of preoperative planning and postoperative care.
In 2002, Dr. Kastenbaum was first invited to speak and perform live surgery at a major orthopedic conference in China, which spurred his interest in helping to improve medical education internationally. This eventually led him to develop a fellowship program and to become co-chair of the International Congress for Joint Reconstruction (ICJR) Chinese Orthopedic Association meeting, the most widely attended yearly meeting of orthopedic surgeons in China, which attracts nearly 15,000 people.
Over the years, Dr. Kastenbaum’s orthopedic fellowship program has grown to become one of the most sought-after programs for Chinese orthopedic surgeons. Many of his former fellows are now chairs of their own departments or presidents of their hospitals.
“I am very grateful to be in a position to help so many of these doctors from around the world who want to learn about best practices so they can, in turn, help their patients,” he says. “They do so much good for their patients, often with less equipment than we have in the United States. We can also learn more from traditional Chinese medicine, which has tremendous merit.”
Dr. Kastenbaum says he is looking forward to another educational trip with his team next year. “We want to continue and are expanding to other parts of the world because we have only just begun to make a difference in improving surgical outcomes in patients,” he says.