Fernando Hernandez-Perez, M.D.’s AANA Traveling Fellowship: An Insightful Experience
Lessons learned, and plenty of pearls to bring back home. For Fernando Hernandez-Perez, M.D., the AANA Traveling Fellowship was perhaps one of the most unique learning experiences of his career in orthopaedic surgery.Dr. Hernandez-Perez was the only Traveling Fellow who resides outside the United States – San Luis Potosi, Mexico, to be exact.
Dr. Hernandez-Perez comes from a full private practice in San Luis Potosi where he serves as head physician of his local professional basketball team CB Santos San Luis. He’s also the former head physician from his local professional soccer team Santos Soledad FC. He still consults for Potosino FC soccer club and many collegiate and state selection athletes in the area.
Of course, being a head physician of a professional sports team means that being up-to-date on the most recent techniques and trends in sports medicine is crucial, which is exactly what the AANA Traveling Fellowship provided for him. The two-week-long experience, which included visits to three different educational sites and a final stop at the 2019 AANA Annual Meeting, immersed Dr. Hernandez-Perez in an educational atmosphere unlike anything he’s ever experienced.
“I was amazed to see the incredible results we got in rotator cuff cases using very minimal equipment compared to what I use on my regular cases back home: no pump, no traction or positioning devices and the ability to use only two anchors and a special suture configuration,” Dr. Hernandez-Perez states. “And this was the same in the other shoulder and knee cases I witnessed. I’m proud to say I have become a more effective, cost-saving surgeon as a result from all the cases I observed during the Traveling Fellowship.”
The ability to watch Ben Graves, M.D., Kevin Coates, M.D. and Brian Waterman, M.D. at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina perform several rotator cuff repairs, and Bradley Schoch, M.D., at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, perform an arthroscopically assisted tendon transfer for a massive rotator cuff tear, for instance, gave Dr. Hernandez-Perez a whole new outlook on the techniques he currently uses in his own practice.
“I was also able to improve graft fixation techniques, which definitely comes into play for the patients I see and treat,” Dr. Hernandez-Perez adds.
Dr. Hernandez-Perez was able to see these graft fixation techniques first-hand during his site visit at the Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center, further proving that effective graft techniques do not need to be complicated.
Dr. Hernandez-Perez’s journey came full circle at AANA’s Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, where he was able to reconnect with his site hosts and speak to his experience during Residents and Fellows Day.
“I was glad I was able to speak to ways I can now improve my practice with good teamwork and efficiency in the operating room,” he explains.
And there was, however, one other very important lesson Dr. Hernandez-Perez learned while on his Traveling Fellowship journey.
“Never stand behind a running airboat or you will get blown away, literally,” Dr. Hernandez-Perez laughs.
