I must have ended up on the naughty list...
Because someone saw fit to gift me with the three most lackluster, idiotic, uncoordinated med students in all of Chicago. Not only were they unprepaired for being on the surgical floor, they had no concept of procedures. It was like herding a little flock of clueless sheep all day. Sheep that had been lobotomized. Shirley actually had to show one young lady how to put on latex gloves. I offered to by her a drink after our shift was over. Shirley, that is.
Then there was the absurdity that took place in the scrub room. For a while I thought we had been invaded by Monty Python and his cohorts or that perhaps Meredith had put them up to some sort of elaborate prank. No, I'm not that fortunate. Instead, Dale Edson and I got to hold a little Hand Washing and Scrubbing In 101 seminar. That in and of itself was probably quite commical seeing as Dale has zero patience for people and even I was getting aggrivated after having to repeat myself more than twice. I'm not sure what is so difficult to comprehend about "Keep your hands above your waist and do not touch anything once gowned and gloved." Third year med students need to be led around by the nose and given electro-shock therapy.
It became readily apparent that we were not going to be able to operate with the goof troop observing in the OR, so I bannished them to the obs deck for the duration...completely gowned up. I also had Shirley turn the thermostat up in there. I'm sure they were grossly uncomfortable. Me? Passive-aggressive? Never.
From there I decided it would be prudent to give them all a crash course in what to expect during their rotation lest I, or more likely Dr. Crenshaw, opted to go on a killing spree out of frustration. Here are some of the demonstrations put forth today. I had one of the more technically savvy interns video tape them:
Tying two-handed knots.
Loading a blade onto the scalpel.
Holding the scalpel in a pencil grip.
Fingertip grip (how I generally hold them)
Incising (which I informed them that none of them would be doing this rotation)
If you really want to impress your peers, learn to tie a surgeon's knot in one double-handed motion. There are some surgeons who are not all that adept at it, to be honest. I have been meaning to teach this little trick to Abigail for some time now. Promised to show her over a year ago, actually and well...perhaps now I'll have to seeing as I spent most of the day showing med students and interns how to do this. Hold one end in your right hand between thumb and index finger, palm up, suture across palm and over the pinkie as it heads back down. Grab the other end with your left hand, palm up, draping it over your thumb as it heads back down. Then cross the suture over your right palm, left end on top; then do an underhand loop with your right middle finger while simultaneously doing an overhand loop with your left index finger.
Again, I'm demonstrating using thick shoe-lace type cording so that you can see what I'm doing. Nylon silk doesn't film very well. So what do you think, Abigail? Are you up to the task later? I'm willing to bet that you catch on much faster than my med students.
video originally from upenn
Then there was the absurdity that took place in the scrub room. For a while I thought we had been invaded by Monty Python and his cohorts or that perhaps Meredith had put them up to some sort of elaborate prank. No, I'm not that fortunate. Instead, Dale Edson and I got to hold a little Hand Washing and Scrubbing In 101 seminar. That in and of itself was probably quite commical seeing as Dale has zero patience for people and even I was getting aggrivated after having to repeat myself more than twice. I'm not sure what is so difficult to comprehend about "Keep your hands above your waist and do not touch anything once gowned and gloved." Third year med students need to be led around by the nose and given electro-shock therapy.
It became readily apparent that we were not going to be able to operate with the goof troop observing in the OR, so I bannished them to the obs deck for the duration...completely gowned up. I also had Shirley turn the thermostat up in there. I'm sure they were grossly uncomfortable. Me? Passive-aggressive? Never.
From there I decided it would be prudent to give them all a crash course in what to expect during their rotation lest I, or more likely Dr. Crenshaw, opted to go on a killing spree out of frustration. Here are some of the demonstrations put forth today. I had one of the more technically savvy interns video tape them:
Tying two-handed knots.
Loading a blade onto the scalpel.
Holding the scalpel in a pencil grip.
Fingertip grip (how I generally hold them)
Incising (which I informed them that none of them would be doing this rotation)
If you really want to impress your peers, learn to tie a surgeon's knot in one double-handed motion. There are some surgeons who are not all that adept at it, to be honest. I have been meaning to teach this little trick to Abigail for some time now. Promised to show her over a year ago, actually and well...perhaps now I'll have to seeing as I spent most of the day showing med students and interns how to do this. Hold one end in your right hand between thumb and index finger, palm up, suture across palm and over the pinkie as it heads back down. Grab the other end with your left hand, palm up, draping it over your thumb as it heads back down. Then cross the suture over your right palm, left end on top; then do an underhand loop with your right middle finger while simultaneously doing an overhand loop with your left index finger.
Again, I'm demonstrating using thick shoe-lace type cording so that you can see what I'm doing. Nylon silk doesn't film very well. So what do you think, Abigail? Are you up to the task later? I'm willing to bet that you catch on much faster than my med students.
video originally from upenn