This week in Minor Surgery we got to practice our skills on
replica human arms instead of pretending to suture each other! Dr.
Khan, our professor, provided each of us with a foam human arm with
various sized lacerations that needed to be stitched up.
First, we had to make sure the wound was cleaned so we set up a
sterile field with our surgery utensils and pretended to sanitize
the area to be sutured. Next we had to practice opening and closing
the surgery tongs with both hands. It is much harder than you think
to force your non-dominant hand to do meticulous work… I need
practice!! We were each given a surgical needle with thread
attached to practice suturing a smaller wound on the arm. It took
me a few times of rearranging the tongs in my hand before I had a
comfortable angle to begin stitching. Dr. Khan came around to be
sure that we had our "patient's" arm placed in an appropriate
position as many of us ended up having the arm twisted in a way
that would not be possible if there were really a human
attached!
After a few practice runs, I had the flow down of how to stitch,
tie and cut without tugging on the wound more than needed. Dr. Khan
stressed the importance of keeping the stitches evenly spaced, not
pulling the sutures too tight when tying them, and using the
minimum amount of stitches to properly close the wound. With so
many things to keep in mind, it really speaks to the art of
surgery.
I don't see myself performing minor surgery in my future
practice, however, I am sure there will come a time when I need to
know how to properly clean and close a minor wound. Next week we
will be practicing on larger lacerations and utilizing different
techniques for closing difficult wounds.
St. Louis or Bust!
Next week is Thanksgiving already! I am going to be taking a
couple of days off from clinic so I can spend extra time traveling
down to see my sister, brother-in-law and niece in Missouri. First,
my boyfriend and I will be stopping off in St. Louis to tour the
Arch and sightsee. Being a space nut… he would like to visit the
space museum, while I would rather go shopping! We will see how
this pans out! All in all I am excited to get time off to spend
with my family and to eat good food!
I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!