By Ben Boulden
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Department of Surgery on Nov. 18 held its first Gratitude Grand Rounds to reconnect medical staff with the people they saved.
Organized by Katie Kimbrough, M.D., a UAMS trauma surgeon and vice chair of education for the Department of Surgery, the event offered a unique reversal of roles. Instead of physicians presenting medical data, patients and their families returned to share their stories and thank the teams that helped them.
Kimbrough noted that while medical professionals are trained to focus on the technical aspects of their jobs, it is vital to remember the humanity behind the charts.
“We spend so much of our professional lives focused on the technical, the urgent, the measurable,” she said. “We study scans, dictate notes, refine operative plans, and we race from consult to consult. But behind every one of those tasks is a human being, someone who is afraid, hopeful, hurt, hurting, vulnerable or exhausted. Someone who may be meeting us on the worst day of their life. Someone whose entire world may have shifted the moment they met us.”
The event highlighted three complex cases of multidisciplinary care.
Tiffany McGee: A Team Effort
The first patient story featured Tiffany McGee, presented by trauma surgeon Richard Betzold, M.D., an assistant professor in the UAMS Department of Surgery. Although McGee was unable to attend due to illness, her story served as an example of teamwork between the cardiology and surgery departments.
McGee collapsed at a party at her home and was brought to UAMS in full cardiac arrest. Her condition required immediate life support to bypass her heart and lungs, followed by procedures to clear a blockage in her heart. When her abdomen began to swell dangerously from the aggressive resuscitation efforts, the surgery team stepped in to relieve the pressure.
Despite a long and complicated recovery involving multiple surgeries, McGee was discharged in October. She has since recovered enough to participate in the UAMS Heart Walk and celebrate her 17th wedding anniversary.
Karen Johnson: Treated as a Person, Not a Number
The second patient speaker was Karen Johnson, a social worker for the Central Arkansas Veterans Administration Health System, who found herself on the other side of the patient experience. After a sudden spike in blood pressure led to the discovery of a large tumor on her adrenal gland with spots on her liver, she was referred to the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute in late 2024.
Sonia Orcutt, M.D., a surgical oncologist in the Cancer Institute, and Brooke Eckes, M.D., a resident in the Department of Surgery, gave the medical presentation of her case.
Johnson’s treatment plan involved chemotherapy followed by a complex surgery to remove the tumor, her kidney, her adrenal gland and parts of her liver. Johnson spoke emotionally about the difference in care she felt at UAMS compared to her previous experiences.
“You explained things. You actually listened,” she said. “You drew pictures. You really told me what was going on. It was the first time in my experience that I had been treated as an individual and as a person and not just as a number in a private practice. Everyone put up with me and all my questions and tears, and you basically saved my life. Everyone who touched my case saved my life.”
Josh Pretty: A Return to the ICU
The final case highlighted the story of Josh Pretty, who suffered severe head and face fractures after a 30-foot fall from a ladder while hanging Christmas lights three years ago. His injuries were so severe that on arrival, his airway had to be secured immediately due to heavy bleeding. Kimbrough and Levi Watson, M.D., another resident from the Department of Surgery described his medical condition and gave a summary account of his treatment at UAMS.
His condition on arrival was unstable, and he had trouble breathing. His oxygen level was dropping rapidly, and Pretty required a life-saving surgical procedure called a cricothyroidotomy to place the breathing tube in his airway. The team in the Emergency Department worked together to safely perform the procedure and provide him with much needed oxygen.
A CT scan revealed he had facial fractures, multiple skull fractures and an epidural hematoma — a bleed between the skull and brain. Surgery was required to stop the bleeding and remove a blood clot there.
During the Grand Rounds, Pretty and his wife, Alissa, shared their story from a traumatic scene in the emergency room to his remarkable recovery. The seriousness of his condition was brought home to Alissa Pretty that first night in the Emergency Department as she was leaving.
“And as we were leaving the hospital, the nurse said, you know, ‘if he wakes up.’ And at that point, another realization hit. There wasn’t a when he wakes up. It was an ‘if he wakes up.’ And at that point, they didn’t expect that,” she said.
Alissa Pretty said even when he did wake up much later, their expectations were low because of the severity of his injuries and his inability to walk and speak clearly. Remarkably though, after much hard work with therapists, he did recover.
“There’s still a couple of things that are different about me now. I have a crooked smile, so I have that hillbilly smile,” Josh Pretty said. “But I can’t thank everybody enough for everything that you guys were able to do and get me back to where I was actually 99% myself again. My gratitude for you guys is unparalleled.”
Following the presentation, Kimbrough walked the Pretty family through the Intensive Care Unit and the Emergency Department, allowing him to see the rooms where he was treated and connect again with the staff.
The Impact of Gratitude
For the medical team, hearing these stories provided a necessary reminder of the value of their work, Kimbrough said. She explained that while surgeons often have to compartmentalize their emotions to do their jobs, letting patients back in is essential for professional fulfillment.
“We as surgeons sometimes have to compartmentalize a little bit because when there are bad outcomes, you have to kind of shake it off, so to speak, and then move on to the next patient,” Kimbrough said. “Letting patients in sometimes intensifies the emotions around the losses and makes coping with them more challenging, but it makes the victories and moments like this a lot sweeter.”
