Person or system - What leads to surgical advances?

To understand the relationship between standardisation and originality in surgery, the contributions of three surgeons in the 20th century are analysed. The individual Arbuthnot Lane, the collectivist Robert Jones and the scientist Alexis Carrel changed the practice of orthopaedic surgery. It is argued that the factors influencing innovation are not binary but multifactorial and that advances in surgery occur when individual freedom is permitted within a system. It is concluded that innovation and standardisation in orthopaedic surgery need not conflict with each other.