Surgery and Dexterity

[midn]

Well, I figured if I posted this in the surgery forum, it would get put here, so I'll preemptively start the thread here.

I have never considered doing surgery because I frankly think I have rather poor dexterity. Is it possible for someone with poor dexterity to consider surgery? Can dexterity significantly improve with practice?

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[MelnaisLacis]

I'd imagine some dexterity is required, but some surgeons are old with arthritis 😉.

However with the way things are moving to scopic surgery with fun video cameras, hand-eye coordination seems to be something you might want to work on. I'd suggest gaming woot! Get you a PS3 or XBox or PC and start shooting things!

 

[dan0909]

probably

 

[MattD]

as long as you don't have some dramatic tremor that can't be controlled, i wouldn't worry about it. Dexterity is a trainable skill, which you will develop if you choose the surgical route.

 

[bmepm0711]

I think that for the most part, it's something that comes with years of practice and training.. I doubt all of today's surgeons had superb dexterity before they started.. I definitely don't think you should rule out surgery just cause you don't think you have great dexterity.. just my 2 cents!

 

[IHeartNerds]

You could train a monkey to do what most modern surgeons do. It's learning when NOT to cut that makes you a skilled doctor. Don't rule anything out at this point in your medical pursuits...

Also, ignore haters who think all surgeons are dinguses with ego problems. There might be a few but you'll find just as many snide, petty people in any other field of medicine. Unfortunately, doctors are human too. 95% of surgeons, at least at my school, are pretty cool and friendly people.

 

[Blade28]

Well, I figured if I posted this in the surgery forum, it would get put here, so I'll preemptively start the thread here.

I have never considered doing surgery because I frankly think I have rather poor dexterity. Is it possible for someone with poor dexterity to consider surgery? Can dexterity significantly improve with practice?

Please do a search for this topic. It helps us prevent cluttering of the forums with duplicate threads.

Using the keyword "dexterity," here are some relevant threads:

hand dexterity and agility
Manual dexterity and steady hands?
Surgery & Dexterity
Hand dexterity and fine movements
Manual Dexterity

 

[JMedical08]

This is interesting, I have recently thought that if I were designing my perfect "surgeon" it would be someone with good decision-making ability (ie not neccessarily the most book-smart person who has memorized the most biochemistry) and great dexterity. I would bet that much of surgical success comes down to the surgeons dexterity and with this goal in mind, I would want someone who had great natural ability with regard to dexterity and went through years of training to get better, not someone who has no dexterity to start with. That's just my persepctive as a potential patient.

 

[Maxprime]

This is interesting, I have recently thought that if I were designing my perfect "surgeon" it would be someone with good decision-making ability (ie not neccessarily the most book-smart person who has memorized the most biochemistry) and great dexterity. I would bet that much of surgical success comes down to the surgeons dexterity and with this goal in mind, I would want someone who had great natural ability with regard to dexterity and went through years of training to get better, not someone who has no dexterity to start with. That's just my persepctive as a potential patient.

They don't juggle the scalpel over your abdomen a dozen times before they're allowed to cut.

People learn dexterity, be it typing, working with tools, or suturing. I suppose you could say you don't want your surgeon being a complete klutz, but they're not usually running around the OR either.

 

[carwreck]

The use of virtual reality trainers such as LapSim, SurgicalSim, Mist-VR, PROMIS, etc. is also starting to really pick up. Those will help people improve their surgical skills greatly.