THE GREAT PUMPKIN Ross Brenner, MD, PhD, thoracic surgeon and head of St. Joseph's Heart and Lung Institute, operates in the shadow of the coveted Doc-O-Lantern trophy.

SCALPEL SKILLS
Surgeon Pumpkin-Carving Contest

Looking for a creative way to market your facility in the community? This fall, follow the lead of St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Ariz., by inviting your surgeons to compete in a pumpkin carving contest.

St. Joseph's fourth annual Doc-O-Lantern event pitted 14 physicians against each other on Halloween eve. This year's entries had to have a patriotic or political slant. The physicians could prep the pumpkins — with red, white and blue paint, for example — before cutting, but had only 30 minutes to complete the carvings.

Kevin Potter, MD, gastrointestinal minimally invasive surgeon at St. Joseph's, walked away with the first-place prize and the coveted Doc-O-Lantern trophy for his presidential-themed squash. "It's an homage to the debates," said Dr. Potter, describing his winning entry. "It's Bob Schieffer and his mane of beautiful silver hair, and the presidential candidates Mitt 'Hominy' and 'Broccoli' Obama.'"

SINGER SQUASH Neurosurgeon Peter Nakaji, MD, puts the final touches on his Bret Michaels pumpkin.

A couple years ago, a neurosurgeon took home top honors by carving the likeness of Poison frontman Brett Michaels, then a recent patient at St. Joseph's. The winning pumpkin was in fact presented to the rocker when he returned for a follow-up visit. He loved it, and took the award-winning pumpkin home to his children.

A surgeon pumpkin-carving contest can be billed as an opportunity to publicize knife safety (slice away from you in small, controlled strokes, for example) and will likely attract a lot of media coverage. And in the physicians' lounge, the surprisingly competitive — and, yes, fun — contest lets docs compete for facility-wide bragging rights.

— Daniel Cook