Train your reflexes

A few days ago during the early surgery cycle, when I was observing the resection of benign colonic polyps, there’s an old guy gynecologist asked some students of group 431-A to assist in his fibroid surgery. I volunteered despite the fact that I am very unprepared for obstetric exam the next day.

What the heck right? Assisting in surgery does not come really often (and so does the Obs exam), so I chose to assist anyway. Ok, done with the small talks.

During the surgery, I was giving my fullest attention to the hysterectomy. My job was simply to wipe out bloods and clots, cut sutures, and hold retractors. Those jobs were supposedly simple.

The main surgeon and the 1st assistant and the scrub nurse worked very beautifully and in total sync. Then came me, destroying the whole sync. Why? My poor surgical reflexes…

Despite giving my fullest attention to the surgery, my surgical reflexes are still poor. When the surgeon expected me to wipe out the blood, I was a little late by several miliseconds. I understood the orders very clearly but my reactions towards the surgeons’ orders were a little delayed, making me the one person who held them up a little longer than expected.

I saw blood, I wanted to wipe them away, but too late already because the surgeon has started cutting. Poor reflex. The surgeon asked me to “clear the blood off surgical field” ended up with the scrub nurse doing the job several miliseconds faster than me. Poor reflex.

Whatever. I’m still a med student. These reflexes can still be trained. The surgery was a success and I am a board-certified blood-wiper-with-poor-surgical-reflex. Ngengenge.