For some, complicated medical procedures are something hidden behind the closed doors of operating rooms.
But at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, a few physicians are hoping to change that.
The University's Health System will air its next installment of PENN Vital Signs, a medical television show, tomorrow at 7 p.m. on WPVI-TV/Channel 6 ABC.
The 30-minute program, sponsored by pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., Inc., will focus on HUP's Department of Orthopaedics and will be followed by a two-hour online question-and-answer session with the participating physicians -- Mary Ann Keenan, director of the Neuro-Orthopaedic Surgery program, Richard Lackman, chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Michael Warhol, chairman of the Department of Pathology.
"We are a teaching institution, and this is a way for the public to understand the unique services we offer and also the human side," Health System Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer William Ferniany said.
Now in its second year of existence, PENN Vital Signs has previously featured topics such as heart failure, breast cancer, fertility and Parkinson's disease.
One of the objectives of the series is to teach the public about specific treatments and procedures.
"It is very hard to educate the public on what we do in a 60-second commercial or in print," Ferniany said. "This is a 30-minute TV show."
While officials say the primary goal is pedantic, according to Ferniany, "The secondary goal is to promote our services and promote the wonderful things we do here."
Ferniany said there are only three other health systems in the United States that air programs similar to PENN Vital Signs -- The Cleveland Clinic; the University of California at Davis and the Henry Ford Medical Center in Detroit.
Ferniany added that the inspiration to initiate the series at Penn came from examining the practices of these other institutions.
"It fit our culture and what we wanted people to do," he said.
According to Ferniany, the subjects that have been covered are in arenas in which the Health System prides itself and in which the public has expressed the most interest.
"We are strong in many areas, but we have certain areas we focus on," Ferniany said.
The format of the show is "very much like a documentary," Ferniany added. Viewers watch patients from the start to the end of their procedures as they interact with physicians and nurses.
"The idea behind it is to get the patient's perspective and the physician's perspective of treating the patient," Ferniany said.
