Terrible with hands/suturing!!!

[Globalcitizen88]

I am terrible with my hands or doing anything physical (other than weight lifting, which is just physical and rote force rather than intricacies). I lose 2-19 to my roomate who is just an OK ping pong player, can't throw a football, and left my lab partly because everyone was frustrated at my continuous messing up, pipetting wrong, spilling solution, etc. I am successful about 1 in 100 times when trying to take someone's blood pressure manually(while my peers may be successful after 2-3 tries). And the thing I am MOST afraid of?

Stitching/suturing. I am the only one that can't even build an electric circuit in physics class (despite scoring in the top quartile in the course). Can I still get my degree if I do very badly on suturing. Is it possible to be kicked out for incompetence in suturing? What if I amputated my hands? Will I still have to do surgical rotation?

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[dr_kateb]

What if I amputated my hands? Will I still have to do surgical rotation?

Lol

 

[965978]

Do you suffer from anxiety? I know that anxiety can cause lack of dexterity.

 

[sunshinefl]

Listen, I thought I would be terrible at suturing. I’m not a “great with my hands” kinda person (but not fumbling with BP cuff bad), and it always looked complicated to me, but after just a couple procedural instruction sessions I’m pretty good at it. Am I good enough to stitch a beating heart on the fly? Nope. But I have zero interest in surgery. So if you can just do some basic simple interrupted sutures you’ll probably be okay. If your school has any suturing sessions, go and practice!

PS I’ve also heard that maybe some companies will send you a student suturing practice kit. Never followed up with that though, so maybe it’s an urban legend.

PPS don’t amputate your hands

 

[907914]

Your school won’t let you fail over something as trivial as suturing incompetence. Just practice-practice-practice. Do as the above posters say. Lower your anxiety, by some stitches and some oranges to practice on.

As far as the rest of your dexterity goes: Play Minecraft for long enough to make it to the nether, play guitar hero, master the fidget spinner and learn some shadow puppet figures. That all oughta help.

 

[JustaDO]

I'm going to repeat what I said last time regarding your inquiries: I truly hope this is a trolling effort.

 

[ciestar]

You don’t even have to suture during your surgery rotation. I’ve tried only a couple of times... cannot close the damn skin but i can tie knots well. Your surgery rotation is dependent on your site, but the most of what M3’s do is retract, cut the sutures, and suction. (And my vision problem leads to relative lack of depth perception, so i suck at judging the length the tie needs to be and sometimes miss putting the suture between the blades completely). Worry not.

 

[AllBleedingStops]

and left my lab partly because everyone was frustrated at my continuous messing up, pipetting wrong, spilling solution, etc.

Let's be honest, you ghosted your lab.

 

[siliso]

You don’t have to be great at suturing to make it through med school or residency. If you can make it to throw a few and tie them you’ll get there. Most medical specialties don’t require any suturing or manual dexterity at all. I don’t love suturing but the most I’ve had to do in residency is one throw or two and four knots for a line, and none at all in practice as an internist. And if you can tie your shoes you have the physical capacity to tie a suture, with practice. If you’re radically impaired with no functional hands there will be more open question about technical standards, but it sounds like you’re just nervous. Look into a beta blocker or some treatment for anxiety disorder.

 

[siliso]

Most surgical residents will be in no way offended and maybe relieved if you say I’m willing to try but not so hot at this, you go ahead and close. Faster that way and faster home to bed.

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

Play some games or sports that require dexterity. Practice makes perfect.

 

[SouthernGent]

slow is smooth smooth is fast

 

[puahate]

Play some games or sports that require dexterity. Practice makes perfect.

What game system did you play or use?

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

What game system did you play or use?

I was not necessarily talking about videogames. I play(ed) pool, for example.
But I also played a lot of videogames— everything from SNES upward. You name it, I likely owned it at some point.

 

[Lawpy]

I was not necessarily talking about videogames. I play(ed) pool, for example.
But I also played a lot of videogames— everything from SNES upward. You name it, I likely owned it at some point.

Switch?

 

[IgEdoc]

coin or card magic is fun and develops lots of finger dexterity

 

[DirtyNewYorker]

Haha, I'm really slow at learning to do things with my hand, but I find that after I do it the first time correctly, I catch on pretty well. It just takes me forever to do it well the first time (I don't know how many tries it took me to finally learn how to put on a tie), so you're not necessarily alone with this problem.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

yea not being good at suturing is fine. Hell even the med students who want to do surgery still aren’t great at it - it’s really hard.

They will make you try, but no one is expecting someone who wants to do neurology to be able to close an abdomen

 

[puahate]

I was not necessarily talking about videogames. I play(ed) pool, for example.
But I also played a lot of videogames— everything from SNES upward. You name it, I likely owned it at some point.

Gamer AND an ortho.

You are an inspiration all. If you just added powerlifting you would be the triple threat

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

Gamer AND an ortho.

You are an inspiration all. If you just added powerlifting you would be the triple threat

This again?

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

Switch?

Indirectly. As in, I don’t own one, but a family member does.

 

[Ad2b]

You don’t even have to suture during your surgery rotation.

Sorry to t/j for a minute but can you tell me what the best/worst parts of surgery rotation was? and how you overcame/embraced each?

 

[coffeebythelake]

that's why you do residency. all that training counts for something.

 

[ciestar]

Sorry to t/j for a minute but can you tell me what the best/worst parts of surgery rotation was? and how you overcame/embraced each?

For me?
Best: going home
Worst: everything

Legit my feelings, as I hate it and scrubbing and all that..
But seeing the body for what it is actually is pretty cool. You do learn a lot and it isn’t so bad as long as you try to remain interested in what is happening during a case. This can be really hard when you’re straight up ignored at least half the time by the resident/attending. What gets me through it is making conversation with the nurses, but also knowing that i only have a few weeks left of this. I also am doing my best as far as skills go and I do try, so i cannot ask much more of myself.

 

[Ad2b]

For me?
Best: going home
Worst: everything

What's the longest you've had to stand still?

Didn't think you could talk during surgery ... lol ... the things I'm learning

 

[sunshinefl]

For me?
Best: going home
Worst: everything

Legit my feelings, as I hate it and scrubbing and all that..
But seeing the body for what it is actually is pretty cool. You do learn a lot and it isn’t so bad as long as you try to remain interested in what is happening during a case. This can be really hard when you’re straight up ignored at least half the time by the resident/attending. What gets me through it is making conversation with the nurses, but also knowing that i only have a few weeks left of this. I also am doing my best as far as skills go and I do try, so i cannot ask much more of myself.

But do you have to do 2 surgery rotations like at my school? Ugh.

 

[965978]

Play some games or sports that require dexterity. Practice makes perfect.

So what you’re saying is I can get my parents to buy me an Xbox and play it off as an educational necessity?

I have been dreaming of this day since I was 7

 

[ciestar]

But do you have to do 2 surgery rotations like at my school? Ugh.

Thankfully not but it is 10 weeks long

 

[ciestar]

What's the longest you've had to stand still?

Didn't think you could talk during surgery ... lol ... the things I'm learning

If nobody else is talking, you don’t either unless you have a pressing question or notice something wrong. It really depends on the attending, though.

Ive never been on a more than 5 hour surgery, but, ive had to go on many consecutive cases that lasted about 12 hours total with no chance to eat. That is a rough day.

 

[965978]

If nobody else is talking, you don’t either unless you have a pressing question or notice something wrong. It really depends on the attending, though.

Ive never been on a more than 5 hour surgery, but, ive had to go on many consecutive cases that lasted about 12 hours total with no chance to eat. That is a rough day.

Have you ever worn a Fitbit or some other step counter to see how much you walk per day (on average) during your surgery rotation just by all the running around you have to do?

 

[ciestar]

Have you ever worn a Fitbit or some other step counter to see how much you walk per day (on average) during your surgery rotation just by all the running around you have to do?

I have my phone in my pocket all day, so I am sure it underestimates but there are days im at 15000 a day

 

[965978]

I have my phone in my pocket all day, so I am sure it underestimates but there are days im at 15000 a day

And is that much more than you would walk on another normal day?

 

[ciestar]

And is that much more than you would walk on another normal day?

Usually.

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

So what you’re saying is I can get my parents to buy me an Xbox and play it off as an educational necessity?

I have been dreaming of this day since I was 7

There is actually some evidence for this.

Nintendo Wii video-gaming ability predicts laparoscopic skill. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[sunshinefl]

Thankfully not but it is 10 weeks long

Just now found out my first rotation(s) are surgery!! Ugh lol. Not sure how to feel about that. We get the full schedule in April, but we found out our first rotation just for the purpose of summer registration.

 

[ciestar]

Just now found out my first rotation(s) are surgery!! Ugh lol. Not sure how to feel about that. We get the full schedule in April, but we found out our first rotation just for the purpose of summer registration.

It’s rough having it last though lol

 

[dr zaius]

Just now found out my first rotation(s) are surgery!! Ugh lol. Not sure how to feel about that. We get the full schedule in April, but we found out our first rotation just for the purpose of summer registration.

Expectations are generally lower at the beginning of the year.

 

[sunshinefl]

Expectations are generally lower at the beginning of the year.

Silver lining! Lol