Advice for shaky surgeon wannabe

[Goofyone]

I'm a second-year student and very interested in surgery.

Alas, I'm not sure if I have the physical traits to be successful.

I did some work on cadavers (tissue retrieval) in ORs before I started med school and at times I found it hard to hold my hands perfectly still to do procurement, especially after a little while when my back starts straining and my arms get tired from holding them up in front of me. I was okay enough to do tissue retrieval without harming it too much, but I don't know about being steady enough to sew a 2mm vessel under a microscope and do a good job.

My questions are:

1. Are there some sort of physical requirements one must have in order to be accepted into surgical residencies? Do you take a dexterity test or something like that?

2. Obviously I wouldn't even accept a spot in a surg program if I I didn't feel like I was physically able to do a great job. So any ideas on some things (specific excercises or what not) that I could do to increase my dexterity and decrease fatigue and slight tremor in my hands?

It would be appreciated!

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[ckent]

1. There are no physical requirements. A lot of people don't find out that they are not "physically fit" for surgery until residency, this is particularly true for a surgical subspecialty like ophthalmology that requires a lot of fine hand movements. For most of surgery, I think just about anybody who doesn't have a severe disabling tremor disorder can learn to do it with enough practice (sure that there are some surgeons who would disagree with this though). If you do general surgery, there are a ton of surgeries that require minimal manual dexterity.
2. In order to increase your strength, I'd recc weight bearing exercises and cardiovascular exercises to increase your endurance. If you are overweight, you should try to lose some weight. You should probably try to lose some weight even if you are "normal" weight (as most americans consider overweight to be normal), as the less you weigh, the more healthy you'll be (as long as your not anorexic or anything). Buy a pair of clogs, practice walking up a lot of stairs often instead of taking the elevators, having a regular exercise routine, and you can take up sewing if you want to improve your dexterity. You can get one of the upper years to show you how to tie surgical knots for practice and you can keep a string and do that all day during your free time too. Anyways, don't get too caught up in this whole surgery thing, you might change your mind by the time you start your rotations.

 

[Goofyone]

I'm starting on a quilt tomorrow. Seriously though, thanks for the advice.

I got thinking to again.

With all the surgeries now that are done laparoscopically looking at the TV, I wonder if playing my xbox several hours a week will be of benefit?

Someone should make some sort of a simulator for these things.

Or, have I just invented something that already exists?

 

[mpp]

Originally posted by Goofyone

Someone should make some sort of a simulator for these things.

Or, have I just invented something that already exists?

There are many such things, both real and virtual...

 

[Heathcliff]

To work on my dexterity, I bought the Operation game -- you know, the one with the electric tweezers and cardboard patient? If you are not careful picking out all the plastic pieces from the small holes, his nose lights up and the buzzer goes off and scares the crap out of you.

When I got pretty good at it, I started to time myself which added more pressure. Think I'm kidding about this? YOU try and get the funny bone in fifteen seconds!

 

[DW]

the funny bone is one of the easier pieces, man. can you do the charley horse in ~15 seconds? I oWn U!!!!

 

[Heathcliff]

I guess the funny bone is more of a challenge for me because I usually find it in its hole located down and to the right, and in this position it is almost impossible to grip without setting off the buzzer.

With the charlie horse, I can usually push up on the horse's belly and move him to the upper right corner. This exposes the front leg which is easy to grip, and from there, the charlie horse is easy to lift out -- all done slowly, of course, but still within fifteen seconds.

 

[Goofyone]

Man, you just brought back some childhood memories. I forgot all about that game. I liked hungry hungry hippos too, but it didn't really require as much skill as operation.

You know, it's funny, I just realized how long I've wanted to be a doctor for now. I remember being about 4 years old, watching trapper john on tv. Do you guys remember that show? Damn what a little weirdo I was.

 

[ent_doc]

Tom Tarter on the Nova special "Making of a Doctor" said, "You can't be an idiot and be a doctor; you can't be a klutz and be a surgeon; but if you're reasonably intelligent and reasonably skilled with your hands you can do either one."

I think I agree with that.

That being said, there are some surgical fields (peds cardiac, transplant) where being very technically skilled is an advantage

 

[womansurg]

Lots and lots of folks start their medical careers with shaky hands. Usually it's due more to nervousness than anything else. There's also a learning curve to fine motor control, which is improved with practice.

I've never met anyone who had a persistent problem with shakiness, even though virtually everyone starts out that way. Don't sweat it.

 

[LoneSEAL]

I wouldn't worry so much about shaky hands. However, if you have carpal tunnel or other things where your wrists get sore, you might want to be careful. Also, if you get back pain often, is another consideration.

 

[Minimalist M]

If you can type, then you have enough manual dexterity to do surgery. It's really a myth that surgeons are all about their hands. They manage so much of their patients' care outside of the OR.

Besides, surgery residencies are 5+ years long. Even if you have shaky hands, you'll learn to use them properly in half a decade!

Good luck!

 

[Goofyone]

Well, I feel a bit better. Thanks for your posts.

I am a decent typist, and come to think of it, one of my passions is model building and I've always been pretty skilled at that.

I'm pretty sure my shakiness isn't from nervousness. It usually only happens when my arms are outstretched partially. Maybe it's more of a posture or stamina thing.