Practice Suture

[maplecookie]

Hello I am a M3 who got clinicals delayed from COVID. I am considering surgery and was thinking I could practice/learn some suturing while I’m home for these extra few weeks but I’m unsure about what I should do for materials especially since I’ve never been in an OR and seen a surgery

I’ve seen a few threads with people saying to ask for extra materials from hospitals but I haven’t started rotations so that’s out. So far my vague idea is to buy a needle driver and some suture threads/needles from Amazon and practice on banana skins.

Would this work or is there a better way to go about this? Are there any specific products and suture videos people recommend?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated thank you!

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[libertyyne]

There are lots of sutures that can be had for about 25 dollars for 100 on ebay. SimSuture also sells loose suture for 50 for 15 dollars.
What you can do is watch a bunch of knot tieing videos and practice keeping appropriate tension on sutures.
All the suture pads are junk, probably better off buying pigs feet to practice,

 

[kraskadva]

+1 for buying sutures/tools off amazon
Also strongly recommend getting tongue instead of feet to practice with. Hispanic/ethnic grocery stores will usually sell them for cheap and they are waaaay more realistic for texture than the crazy thick skin you get with feet.

 

[maplecookie]

Thank you for the responses!

So just to clarify, just suture thread/needle and something to suture with should be enough? I don’t need anything else like a needle driver?

 

[libertyyne]

Thank you for the responses!

So just to clarify, just suture thread/needle and something to suture with should be enough? I don’t need anything else like a needle driver?

you need needle drivers and forceps. Usually the one's in the hospital kits are sufficient,since you do not have access to a hospital yet you can purchase them online for relatively cheap.

 

[maplecookie]

Perfect thank you!

 

[OrganRepo]

My advice is the suture kits have incredibly **** suture that is totally foreign. Steal some 4-0 moncryl on a PS2 needle from the OR and steal some 0 vycril ties. Practice suturing with the moncryl and instrument tie it on chicken skin or pig tounge or just whatever. The 0 vycril is for you to learn to hand tie. Steal some gloves and start tying to an object on a table in front of you at a height of somewhere between your navel and pubic bone. As you get more comfortable start tying smaller and smaller vycril or silk. At some point try to tie some 0 or 1 proline, if your knots are not square its liable to break in real life. LEARN TO 2 HAND TIE before you even think about 1 hand tying. Remember that slow is precise and precise is fast. Make sure you get a needle driver that its 6-8 inches MAX bigger drivers are not a realistic practice, and LEARN HOW TO PALM THE DRIVER, if you put your fingers in the rings your hurting your dexterity 90% of the time as a beginner and that's very counter intuitive. Maybe you make friends with a scrub tech if you cant find this stuff yourself. Maybe you ask a mentoring surgeon if he can acquire some of these supplies for you. Find a decent pair of adson pickups with platforms to learn with.

 

[RJ McReady]

Get good at tying knots first, because residents and attending a will usually let you tie knots before they let you suture.

For knot tying, get some string and wrap around a small fixed post of some sort.

Then practice tying one handed and two handed knots both right and left handed till you get fast. That takes a few days. Once you get good, keep practicing 10-15 min every day to maintain and increase speed. String is good to start with because it’s easier to see how the knots lay down and that you’re making them square, then you can move on to tying sutures. I recommend 0-ethilon (nylon) as it is fairly thick and slides easily.

 

[Mnelson]

I have purchased from amazon and medicalproductsnow.com after asking some of the neighborhood clinical managers where they buy supplies the central medical store can't provide them.

 

[Professional Student]

It's more old school but you can buy reloadable suturing needles that you thread yourself each time and then use dental floss or fishing line (any braid or 2-4 lb mono) to practice. It's a dirt-cheap way to practice a lot because you have essentially unlimited "suture" that you already have in your house. Plus if you learn on a reloadable needle anything in the hospital will seem like a breeze because it is an extra level of learning to stitch without pulling the needle off your suture.

This is how my parents learned and practiced through vet school back in the day, and thus how I learned on my surgery rotation.