Saturday, March 29, 2008

I can sew...people!

Today, I went to the Phi Chi suture workshop. Although I usually help teach the Phi Chi workshops, I have never sutured, so I was a student this time. The day started with breakfast in LH1 at 7:30 PM. I never thought that I'd be up that early on a weekend, but I think the workshop was worth it! After a very short presentation by the new anatomy professor, we headed to the anatomy lab to really learn and spend a couple hours practicing. By the end of the day, we learned four different techniques to suture, all useful for different injuries.

Suturing was not terribly difficult, but it definitely does take practice. I could tell that I had improved considerable by the end of the day. And, until I remembered that my patient was no longer alive, I almost felt like a doctor! We learned one technique used by plastic surgeons (or friendly/patient doctors) and my suture almost looked worthy of a plastic surgeon, if I do say so myself. However, it probably took me way longer to pull off than it should. In then end, you do not see any suture marks (it's all internal), other than a small string of suture hanging out at the end, which falls off eventually. And if you do it just right, you can hardly see the laceration in the skin.

After we finished practicing for a couple hours, lunch was provided from BB's. I am not entirely convinced that I won't have food poisoning tomorrow, but it did taste better than the last time I ate lunch there. The new anatomy professor is fantastic, btw! He's actually an MD, which is a very nice change of pace, and he's great in lab. The first semester students and TA's, who have him in lab regularly, seem to agree.

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