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Visit from the Royal College of Surgeons
How's your suturing and your operating technique?
27th March 2007
The College's Biology labs may not have been ankle-deep in blood when a team from the Royal College of Surgeons, headed by Martin Coomer, visited recently, despite spare limbs aplenty lying around and, with the benefit of fibre-optic cameras, students trying out their abdominal cavity micro-surgery techniques.
The limbs - all arms on this occasion - were, it must be said, artificial arms (the College has not taken to body snatching!). Artificial they may have been, but they were very realistic. With the feel of a normal arm, those working with the limbs got the feel of normal skin and body tissue. The wounds and lacerations were life-like too, and responded in ways similar to real skin and tissue as students set about suturing the wounds.
The surgeons' suturing techniques were demonstrated by Bynvant Sandhu, a final-year medical student at Birmingham University's Medical School. Under her watchful and well-trained eye students took the curved suturing needle and began to stitch up the wounds. If it could be done with fingers it might have been an easier task, but the need for sterility meant the needles had to be held in forceps. Using well-honed techniques, the students were taught to stitch together the wounds and - still using only forceps and no fingers - to knot the suture threads. Granny knots are not allowed! In a surgical situation a knot likely to come undone or become loose could create most serious complications.
Elly Breuning, who recently qualified as a surgeon and is now taking a two-year research interlude during her further training as a plastic surgeon, demonstrated the knotting techniques necessary in operations such as in the pelvic area, and sites where it is not always possible for the surgeon to see the sutures. It looked very simple, but students found that it was almost easier to knot their fingers than the suture thread!
The micro-surgery demonstrations used artificial lower torsos. Students were invited to push a probe, with a micro scalpel, through the abdominal skin (again artificial, but with a skin- and tissue-like feel), through which a fibre-optic camera could then be inserted. With one student operating the camera, it was then possible for other members of the team to see inside the abdominal cavity and insert further probes as a route for other micro-surgical instruments. The students were then able to undertake the sort of procedures that micro-surgery (often referred to as 'key-hole surgery') requires. The importance of team-work was readily apparent, for those carrying out the operative techniques relied on the camera to see what they were doing and, as some techniques required more than one set of instruments, more than one pair of hands was essential to complete the task. Again manual dexterity was a must.
Rebecca Bourdon-Pierre said, after trying out the laparoscopy and key-hole surgery techniques, "It was brilliant - I couldn't stop talking about it all night."
Earlier our students, most of whom have applied, or are considering applying, for Medical School places heard a presentations by Bynvant and Elly, both of whom emphasised how essential is a passion for medicine. They stressed that life as a medical student was demanding, but also fun with most medical students seemingly determined to work hard and play hard. Both had travelled abroad, Bynvant to the Caribbean and Elly to Zimbabwe, for the 'elective' part of their training.
Much of what they said, as current or recent students, was echoed by Mr John Black, a recently retired, eminent and immensely experienced Consultant Surgeon who has an overall responsibility for the training of surgeons in England. He showed video clips of some of his own surgical operations which put the subsequent demonstrations properly in context, and emphasised the reliance on good basic techniques. The clips also answered questions such as how something the size of a gall bladder or inflamed appendix can be removed via a key-hole incision.
A further benefit of the visit, arranged by the College's Careers Department, was the experience, guidance and advice shared with students by Martin Coomer about writing entry applications for medical schools, and about what to expect at interviews.
The visit by the Royal College of Surgeons team, Martin Coomer's talk, and the practical demonstrations - with the chance to try - tied everything together for the future medical students.
Don't forget to check out the photo album that accompanies this article with photographs supplied by: Ruth Bullock, Tutor of Business Studies and Member of the College Marketing Unit