In Our World of Ready, Rapid, Expanded Communication—Why Can’t (Don’t) We Communicate?

Excerpt

I have interacted with Moshe Schein for about 10 years, first via his role on the editorial board of the British Journal of Surgery, next when he was an academic surgeon in an Ivory Tower residency training program in New York City, and most recently in his position now, as a rural surgeon in “private practice” in Keokuk, Iowa. Moshe is and has always been outspoken, and this time, as usual, he is right on the mark. His story should ring true to all of us in the academic Ivory Tower as well as those in rural or urban-based private practice. But, why is this so? We have e-mail, fax, Federal Express, PDAs, Web-based systems, Blackberries; we insert funny things with blue lights into our ears to talk to others and look so “important”—after all, this is the age of communication. So why don’t we communicate effectively? …