Saturday, October 25, 2008

Suture Workshop!

Today, AMSA hosted their suture workshop, which they do pretty much every semester. This is my favorite of the workshops since it's pretty much the only one that I have no experience with (and don't teach). Since they didn't have it last semester and I didn't wake up for it my first semester, this was my second time attending. The first half hour or so is spent in lecture with one of the anatomy teachers, who was a general surgeon before teaching at AUC. So, he's very qualified to teach the class and does a great job of it. After the lecture, we spend the next couple of hours in the anatomy lab suturing up the cadavers. It's not a difficult skill, but it definitely takes practice and getting used to it. I was certainly better this time than the last, and spent much of the time helping other people with the knots.

We went over the same suture techniques this time as last, but I also got Dr. Nwasu to show me how to hand tie the knots, which is completely different than tying with the instruments. It looks very easy, and once you get it, it really is very easy. But, it's a somewhat tricky maneuver and for about 5-10 minutes, it seems like you might never get it. So, I'm now fairly proficient with the basic suture knots, and can tie them either with the instruments, or manually. I'm pretty excited about that!

I would have liked to have gotten pictures of the actual class, but cameras aren't allowed in the anatomy lab. Unfortunately, this guy is maybe a bit beyond my skill level ;)
Tracheal_laceration.jpg
Yeah yeah, gross picture...but this is a blog of a medical student!

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