bike mike Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Okay, so I'm a PA student and was assigned to watch a series in surgical knot tying (I have no experience in this). How long did it take you to master this skill? We will practice this in class next week but after watching the videos I'm not sure I can tie my own shoes at this point:;-D:. This is a skill I'd like to be proficient at relatively quickly but am wondering what the typical learning curve is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jen0508 Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 we learned it in a 2 hour lab. we had a booklet that had pictures of each step and a giant string to practice with... practiced for an hour or so then did it with suture material and checked off on it. looks complicated, but once u figure out step by step what to do and get a rhythm down its not so bad. but if u dont practice it often you'll quickly forget it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
med218 Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 We had a similar lab, 2 hours using a shoestring and then we had suture material. We were given a knot tying board and booklet with step-by-step instructions to follow. We then were checked off in a lab. It does take some time to feel really comfortable with knot tying. I felt comfortable on my surgery rotation but it wasn't until I was in my CT surgery rotation where I felt proficient after being sent home my first night with multiple packs of surgical ties to practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Steve Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 What is tripping you up? Are you talking hand ties or instrument tie? If it's instrument tie, how are you holding the needle drivers? (carefully, I know) But I mean do you put your finger(s) in the rings, if so, which fingers? Personally, I find it easiest to use just my ring finger in the bottom ring, my index finger extends up towards the jaws of the driver. My thumb stays out of the second ring. I find this gives my very fine control of the driver, facilitating the ability to grab the running end of the suture material. After each throw (knot), the drivers return to the center of knot to be wrapped for the next throw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator True Anomaly Posted January 24, 2013 Moderator Share Posted January 24, 2013 While there are actually some great videos on YouTube for both instrument, two-hand and one-hand tying, the only way you're going to get good at it is practice, practice, practice. As most practical labs use things like pig's feet to best approximate skin that you can practice on, you can go to a butcher and get some for yourself and take them home, thread a needle with some thread and practice tying knots on skin that you've cut yourself. If you have access to suture material, all the better, but it's not completely necessary just to get the muscle memory down with throwing knots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benny32311 Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Ethicon gives away a knot tying practice kit and a little book that demonstrates how to do some of the basic sutures. I got it over Christmas break and basically spent a road trip (riding in a car) learning one and two handed ties. After a few hours I was fairly decent at it. With all of them it is just a matter of repetition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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