Blog 2024-10-04

Our discussion post from this week focused on finding a theorist from our chosen field. For general and specialized surgery I chose Norman Shumway, born in 1923 and died in 2019, contributing to the development of surgical techniques and the understanding of organ rejection which influenced transplant surgery as a whole. Shumway is primarily known for his pioneering work in heart transplantation. He performed the first successful heart transplant in the United States in the 1960s and heavily contributed to the field of cardiothoracic surgery. Then we focused on completing our notecard assignment, ten notecards on technology used in our chosen field. The technology in general surgery is incredible, including robotic surgical systems that enhance precision reduce recovery times, and allow for minimally invasive procedures.

Our skills lab of the week was focused on bandaging a hand with a laceration in the center of the palm. We had to learn and perform the proper way to bandage a hand in case of emergencies, one classmate would bandage, one would film the process, and the other would have their hand bandaged. First, you have to wrap the bandage around the wrist twice, then diagonally, start wrapping the bandage in figure eight around the fingers and continue making sure that you wrap about two-thirds of the new skin each time, and once that is completed wrap the remaining bandage around the wrist, securing it with tape.