I would like to share with you all an opportunity I had today as part of my journey through medical school. One of our surgeon faculty members came to our class to teach us how to properly suture an open wound.
First, we learned the technique to tie the knots, which is an essential part of each suture. This alone took about two hours. It is very important to master this technique, as a poorly tied knot can come loose in the patient and potentially cause infection in the wound or scarring. There are special kits we used to learn this technique with normal string first around a makeshift “wound.” Afterwards, we were given the actual suture string, which proved to be a bit harder.
Finally, after much struggle and learning, we moved on to the pig’s foot. Each person was given one pig’s foot, which was subsequently cut with a blade. We now had a real wound to work with on this real flesh. Pigskin is very similar to human skin. It makes for a great teaching model.
We learned four different knots that surgeons commonly use:
Horizontal mattress
Vertical mattress
Running suture
Simple interrupted
For those of you who are interested in learning these different knots, there are many videos that you can find online to teach you.
Practicing on the pigskin afforded me an incredible opportunity to learn a skill that I might one-day use in practice. Thank you Dr. Safoui for your time and dedication.
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