Experience

Last night I learned how to suture on a pig’s foot. Surprising to me was that there is no great magic secret to it. It’s just like sewing except the needle is attached to the string. We learned four types of sutures and played with the stapler (which is good for shallow scalp lacerations). The best part was when the Emergency doc overseeing all of this told us to come and practice in his ER. I can just imagine the look of horror on my own face if someone with my level of “experience” tried stitch me up. I think the first time I do it on a patient I’m going to have to control my face and try not to look too freaked out. The last thing anyone wants to hear is “oops.”

I heard an interesting story while suturing that kind of goes along with that sentiment. The Stout Street Clinic here in Denver is run by students on Saturdays (though supervised by a doctor) for homeless people. A pair of fellow students had a patient come in for STD testing last weekend. As part of the interview process and getting a patient’s history, we’re supposed to ask about what the patient thinks about their illness or condition or tests being done, and so the students asked this giant bear of a guy why he thought he needed an STD test. The patient said that he had just gotten out of prison and had had unprotected sex. One of the students knelt between the patient’s knees to swab the guy’s urethra, and as the student was negotiating in his mind how exactly to do that, the patient asked, “You’ve done this before, right?” [Imagine their faces] According to my second-hand source, the student just said ‘yeah’ and took the sample.

Second test over with!!! One more to go (hopefully not followed by having to get carried home), and then I’ll be done with the human body block (i.e. anatomy).