Discover Delmarva Arts: The Art of Surgery

SEAFORD, Del. — Where precision meets creativity — surgery reveals itself as not just a science, but as an art form practiced one movement at a time. TidalHealth Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. Kurt Wehberg says just like performing arts, surgery is a team effort.

“It’s a team sport. It takes everybody involved. It’s not just the hands; it involves a team effort to make sure everything goes well,” Dr. Wehberg said.

Like any great artist, Dr. Wehberg follows a guiding philosophy; an acronym, comprised of four elements that turn every procedure into a carefully crafted work of art.

P.A.I.J. — that stands for precision, anatomy, intuition, and judgement.

“You have to be precise every single movement you make in surgery; there’s no mistakes. So, the robot is actually a little bit better than the human hand for that. . . Anatomic knowledge is the most important thing. You have to know where you are at all times so that you can predict the next movement. . . A really good surgeon will have a gut feeling about something. . . Any time in surgery, no matter where you are, every human is different, so you have to be able to adapt to whatever’s in front of you.”

Dr. Wehberg says those principles don’t just apply in the operating room, and that they are also the foundation of any kind of artwork. “All those different categories for a surgeon can be used with artists in any field.”