Left-handed instruments?

[LetItSnow]

What do you lefties out there do when it comes to needle holders, scissors, and the like?

I can make 'normal' clamps/drivers/holders/etc work in my left hand, but it's not very comfortable and it's slower than my right hand. There's a big difference in speed and comfort unclicking a 'normal' driver in my right hand as opposed to my left; but I'd prefer to use my left since it has generally better fine-motor control.

So I'm wondering what the typical (or best?) solution is:

1) Learn to use my right hand?
2) Learn to use right-handed instruments in my left hand?
3) Use left-handed instruments (con: maybe not as available, esp. as a student)?

Thoughts?

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[breenie]

I'm a leftie, too! But I'm pretty ambidextrous... which causes its own problems. I scalpel with my left hand... but scissor with my right hand...

And I throw a ball with my right hand. And I paint my nails better with my right hand, but this makes no sense?

Hope it makes you feel better that I'm just a mess all around. 🙂

 

[lei325]

There has got to be left handed instruments somewhere on the market, even if they aren't very common. One of the lecturers here were talking about left handed dentistry tools and how they're out there, you just have to really look for them. Have you asked your professors if they know of any supplier that has them?

 

[ShelterGirl]

Most of the lefties in my class seem to just use the right-handed instruments; most of us use scissors with our right hands and the right-handed needle drivers with our left hands. One of my friends even went so far as to teach herself to suture right-handed.
If you're considering trying to use left-handed instruments, do it sooner rather than later. They let me try a pair of left-handed needle drivers during one of my rotations and I couldn't use them because I had become used to the right-handed ones!

 

[LetItSnow]

There has got to be left handed instruments somewhere on the market, even if they aren't very common. One of the lecturers here were talking about left handed dentistry tools and how they're out there, you just have to really look for them. Have you asked your professors if they know of any supplier that has them?

Nope! I know they're out there, I guess part of my question, though, was whether it just makes more sense to get used to using right-handed equipment left-handed, or to just suck it up and go right-handed. I'll talk to some professors about it, too.

 

[Bill59]

There are right-handed scissors and drivers but you can't count on having them where you work. So most lefties learn to suture and cut with their right hand.

 

[LetItSnow]

There are right-handed scissors and drivers but you can't count on having them where you work. So most lefties learn to suture and cut with their right hand.

Presumably you meant "left-handed." The place I work is the one place I *could* count on having them, because I would obviously stock the place I work with the instruments I preferred. I was more thinking about when you're somewhere else (teaching hospital, school trips, that sort of thing).

But, your point is definitely taken. Thank you. Seems reasonable.

 

[Bill59]

Yeah, I meant to write they make left-handed instruments. Since these are often not available during your training, people usually either learn to use their right hand for suturing and cutting or learn to use right-handed instruments with their left hand. But the most improtant thing is to pick one hand and stick with it during your training.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Yeah, I meant to write they make left-handed instruments. Since these are often not available during your training, people usually either learn to use their right hand for suturing and cutting or learn to use right-handed instruments with their left hand. But the most improtant thing is to pick one hand and stick with it during your training.

Yeah, that's exactly what we were told during our instrument holding class. That if you are a lefty or a small-handed person, special ones do exist that you can buy... but since vet schools are not accommodating to that and you have to use their instruments when learning surgery, you should just suck it up and learn to deal.

We were also told that regardless of whether you're a righty or lefty, it's best to work on coordinating your non-dominant hand for surgery, and the best way to do that is to brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand 🙂

 

[LetItSnow]

We were also told that regardless of whether you're a righty or lefty, it's best to work on coordinating your non-dominant hand for surgery, and the best way to do that is to brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand 🙂

I bet the person that told you that was a right-hander. 🙂

 

[sunshinevet]

Im just jelly that your school supplies you with instruments!!! Here at tight-assed murdoch, you have to buy ALL of your own!!! A pretty expensive venture and it always seems to come up just at the point in time where i have no money!!! 🙁

But obviously over here that gives lefties a bit of an advantage as they can elect to purchase left handed stuff. On that note though, the surgeon who teaches our surgery classes is a lefty, but for surgery she is completely ambidextrous. Apparently lefties can pick that up better than righties, and she fully encourages the lefties in our class to work on that skill and utilize to the fullest extent. And while you may choose to purchase left handed instruments for our pracs, if your asked to scrub in/close in the actual hospital, chances are you wont get the luxury of having left handed instruments.

 

[Minnerbelle]

I bet the person that told you that was a right-hander. 🙂

A right--BIG -- handed person. When you've got nubbins for fingers, it's very difficult to hold ringed instruments properly.... (but I think his point was that good surgeons are generally pretty ambidextrous).

Sunshinevet, if you have to get your own supplies, how do you have them sterilized before surgery? Do you make your own packs and then put them in a communal autoclave like the day before?

 

[dyachei]

A right--BIG -- handed person. When you've got nubbins for fingers, it's very difficult to hold ringed instruments properly.... (but I think his point was that good surgeons are generally pretty ambidextrous).

Sunshinevet, if you have to get your own supplies, how do you have them sterilized before surgery? Do you make your own packs and then put them in a communal autoclave like the day before?

That's what we did at UTK. You had to have your pack in the day before so you could pick it up in time for your surgery the next morning

 

[primatevetjess]

I'm left handed as well, and like someone above mentioned, I cut with my left hand but do everything else in surgery w/my right hand.

I found that to just be the easiest option. Left handed instruments are expensive and not easy to come by, and using right handed instruments in my left hand was just too awkward.

 

[LetItSnow]

A right--BIG -- handed person. When you've got nubbins for fingers, it's very difficult to hold ringed instruments properly.... (but I think his point was that good surgeons are generally pretty ambidextrous).

Maybe... or that may be romanticizing the "good surgeons" a bit. My mom was a surgical nurse her entire career. I asked her about it and she rolled her eyes and started launching stories about left-handed surgeons and their fussiness over instruments. Sure didn't sound like they were all ambidextrous. Yesterday I asked one of the surgical residents my question and, in the course of the conversation, he said he'd never try and use his left hand (he's right-handed) for anything too delicate.

Dunno. I'm inclined to think jjohnston and Bill59 are right; it's probably best to learn to use right-handed instruments since those are guaranteed to be available, and just make a decision about whether to use them right or left and stick with it.

It is interesting: When you ask a lefty, they "get it." When you ask a righty, they just look at you like "C'mon, really? Grow up." One of those things where you wish you could take the righties and make them perform with tools designed for their other hand and then tell them to just suck it up.

Thanks for the responses, all! I do appreciate people taking time to answer what's really a pretty trivial/novice question.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Dunno. I'm inclined to think jjohnston and Bill59 are right; it's probably best to learn to use right-handed instruments since those are guaranteed to be available, and just make a decision about whether to use them right or left and stick with it.

Sounds like a plan. All I know is that if you're at a school that provides tools, that's what you have to go with. Whatever you decide to do with it is obviously your decision to make. If it's easier to use righty instruments with your left hand than to use the righty instruments in your non-dominant hand, then more power to ya (I'm not a lefty nor a surgeon, so I have no idea which is easier).

Maybe... or that may be romanticizing the "good surgeons" a bit.

lol, that's prob true. I said that's what surgeon extraordinaire said, and that that's what his point was . Not so much that I believed it. Just passing on expert wisdom that I don't have experience to know is practical or not. We were taught "proper instrument handling" before anatomy started so that we can practice good habits during dissection or whatever. I kept being told that I wasn't holding my instruments correctly, so I finally asked the surgeon for advice. His reply was that the instruments don't fit my hands, so I should just hold it however it's most comfortable... So I def don't blame you for wanting to not use your non-dom hand.

That being said, I've had to learn to use my left hand for some tasks requiring manual dexterity with mice/lab stuff that was very difficult for me at first. But if it's a few specific tasks, it's pretty amazing how well you can adapt. I still can't write with my left hand or do most things at all with my left, but I got really good at those specific tasks. It's kinda like with stringed instruments. the left hand requires way more dexterity so it takes a lot of practice/adjustments, but pretty much all righties still play that way. Even if they get really good, most still can't do other things with their left hand. Not sure how much this applies to surgical tool handling though.

It is interesting: When you ask a lefty, they "get it." When you ask a righty, they just look at you like "C'mon, really? Grow up." One of those things where you wish you could take the righties and make them perform with tools designed for their other hand and then tell them to just suck it up.

It's also interesting how touchy lefties tend to be 😛. I don't think this is so much a problem of lefties, as it is a problem of being a minority. Your compadres will always "get it" and commiserate. Otherwise it just sounds like you're b****ing to everyone else 🙄. (But I agree, I would personally love to make everyone wear gloves 2 sizes too big and make them do tech duties for a whole day and see how they like it.)