Most doctors choose to follow tradition and stick to conventional approaches in medical care, but sometimes achieving the best outcomes for patients requires medics who are willing to push the envelope.

That was a common theme for fourteen hospital workers who were honoured with Young Achievers Awards by the Hospital Authority this year.

Among them was orthopaedist Gloria Lam from Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, who was recognised for her use of a more novel approach in conducting hip replacement surgeries.

She says while most surgeons in Hong Kong opt for a conventional approach, where they access the hip joint through an incision made at the back of the hip, she favours an anterior approach, where the cut is made from the front, taking the shortest and most direct route.

This, Lam says, speeds up recovery times for patients.

“The patients... can have a more aggressive rehab, because we don't need any hip precautions to prevent any undesirable dislocations post-op," she explained.

"They have higher hip stability and even better range because of better and faster rehabilitation.”

While this approach has been gaining popularity overseas and in mainland China, Lam said there’s a steep learning curve for local surgeons.

“We need to accumulate a certain amount of cases to get used to it, especially if you are switching from a posterior approach surgeon to an anterior approach surgeon – the switching is sometimes quite difficult,” she noted.

Change, Lam said, takes a team effort. To help encourage more colleagues to embrace this novel approach, she has invited overseas doctors to share their experiences with local orthopaedists at a workshop at the end of the month.

Another award recipient was Luke Chan – an associate consultant of medicine and geriatrics at Princess Margaret Hospital.

He had launched a screening program in 2017 to detect patients suffering from non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder.

Early detection is important, he stressed, as the condition affects the quality of life for patients and can cause other complications.

Chan said more than 100 patients have benefited from the programme so far, and he's hopeful that more patients can be diagnosed early in future.

"Although this is an inherited disease, many [patients] present in [the latter part of their] lives, so many of them may still be uncovered in the general population so hopefully in the future it will be able to pick them up," he said.

He also introduced an electronic system for chemotherapy prescriptions to improve the hospital’s working process.