John Knight, MD, is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hand and wrist surgery at the Hand and Wrist Institute in Dallas.
Dr. Knight previously served as director of the Hand and Wrist Institute at DISC Sports & Spine Center in Beverly Hills, Calif. He shared the unique ways his former practice attracted patients from around the world during a conversation with Becker's.
Q: What differentiates your practice from other orthopedic hand surgeons in the area?
Dr. John Knight: The practice as a whole is well known because of our relationship as a provider for the US Olympic team and Red Bull athletes. Taking care of elite athletes sets us apart from other practices very quickly. We are also doing cutting edge treatment and surgeries driven by the will of these athletes to return to elite competition, but we can use the same treatments on all our patients.
Q: Are there any new procedures you are doing or technology you use to differentiate yourselves from other practices?
JK: Speaking from the Hand and Wrist Institute, we do endoscopic carpal tunnel release, which is releasing the carpal tunnel through a one-centimeter incision. We are able to project the patient’s internal anatomy on a monitor. This procedure has been around for 15-20 years but now the technology is more refined. After surgery we don’t use sutures. Instead, we use a glue material to close the incision after this truly minimally invasive procedure.
The other big area is advanced arthroscopic wrist surgery. We can go in through a minimally invasive 2 mm incision and repair ligament and cartilage injuries. Most surgeons will perform a more invasive procedure. From a sports medicine standpoint, the minimally invasive procedure allows for a quicker recovery and quicker return to the sport. The goal is to preserve the normal function that the athlete had before the injury.
Q: From a patient flow standpoint, how do you ensure efficiency at your practice?
JK: I think we offer a very efficient practice throughout the whole process of care. We give patients access to electronic medical records whether they originally found us online or not. Many patients fill out their paperwork through our website ahead of time which automatically populates the information into their chart. This minimizes their time in the waiting room. Typically orthopedic practices require a long waiting period to see specialists. The longer they have to wait, the unhappier they become. It’s important to be efficient and see patients in a timely matter. With our process, I typically see 40-50 patients per day with an average wait time of no longer than 10 minutes.
Q: How do you drive patient volume at the practice?
JK: One thing that has been highly successful for the Hand and Wrist Institute has been internet marketing. Our website is very interactive and we have national and international referrals because of the reach our website has. I designed the website in 1995 and it has evolved into an interactive site patients can access for many different reasons. Patients can see descriptions of many different diagnoses and procedures about hand and wrist care. We have had a lot of fun blogging, tweeting and using Facebook to promote the practice.
We also offer virtual consultation. I’ve Skyped with patients using computers and i-Pads. We can communicate with patients from around the world to discuss whether they would be good candidates for treatment here or simply provide a second opinion to patients who can’t travel from their location. Just recently, I performed surgery on a woman from Hawaii after doing virtual consultations beforehand. Things like that set us apart and now about 70 percent of our referrals are on the internet.
Q: How do patients find your practice online?
JK: We rank highly internationally as well as nationally, so when people search for prominent physicians our website is readily available. We are working with two international patients right now to come in this summer for surgery. One individual from Iraq had a severe arm injury during the Iraq war. Another guy from Egypt who was a protester during the recent uprising was shot multiple times in the arm. We will be able to help both of these patients as a result of originally connecting over the internet.
Editor's note: This article was updated March 7 at 5:22 p.m. CT.