History of Hand Surgery | Purpose of Hand Surgery

History of Hand Surgery

The specialty of Hand Surgery developed out of necessity during World War II. Hand injuries required special expertise from several surgical disciplines to repair injured bones, joints, nerves, and arteries. Gathering together many different specialists to treat a single injured soldier was not practical or even possible during wartime and it quickly became obvious that a select group of surgeons needed to be trained to care for all components of the arm. Dr. Sterling Bunnell, a consultant to the US Army, developed a training program that taught interested surgeons the multiple skills needed to care for all of the parts of the arm and the surgical specialty of hand surgery was born.

Current training requires that Hand Surgeons first complete training in Orthopaedic Surgery, General Surgery or Plastic Surgery and they qualify to pass the certifying boards of their specialty. Aspiring hand surgeons then complete another year of training called a Hand Surgery Fellowship where they learn microsurgery and receive intensive training in the diagnosis and treatment of arm problems. Hand surgeons may choose to become certified by passing a certifying examination: the Certificate of Added Qualifications in Hand Surgery.