Description
Dr. Samuel C. Overley is an orthopaedic spine surgeon providing care at UAMS Health. He provides surgical and nonsurgical treatment for a wide variety of spinal conditions, including cervical, thoracic and lumbar problems as well as spine tumors and trauma. His mentorship from both neurosurgeons and orthopaedic surgeons has given him unique experience in treating adult scoliosis, spinal deformities, and other complex spinal conditions as well as performing minimally invasive spine surgery.
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Transcript
Hi, I’m Sam Overley, and I’m a spine surgeon at UAMS.
I decided to become a doctor in freshman year of high school after a football injury. I was very concerned about the fact that I might not be able to play. And when I saw this particular doctor, he had a very individual plan that he tailored to my particular situation, I really appreciated that. I wanted to afford that type of care for other patients, to be able to tailor that type of care and meet their individual needs.
So not all issues regarding spine care are medical. I like to talk to my patients about the entire medical process from start to finish.
Surgery affects all aspects of life, and it’s important to discuss with patients other parts of life outside of medicine.
I like to discuss everything from insurance issues to financial and social issues all the way through the recovery and rehabilitation process because I think that’s important for patients — to really get a grasp of what their condition entails and what the treatment might mean to them on a global spectrum.
Spine surgery often sounds very scary, but a lot of times even a small, potentially minimally invasive procedure can profoundly impact a patient’s life.
What I really enjoy is seeing those patients back in the office happy and smiling after what they once thought was an incurable problem.
I’m a big advocate for the shared decision-making process. I think that the biggest part of a successful outcome is having the patient have a big part of the decision-making process for their particular care. I think that them adequately understanding everything that’s going on and knowing enough and knowing as much as possible, really, about what their medical condition is and knowing all the options allows them to make a great decision.
