Check out SurgeXperiences 116
March 2, 2008 § 1 Comment
Edition 116 of SurgeXperiences – the blog carnival of all things surgical – is up at Other Things Amanzi.
Once again it collects some of the most interesting and compelling stories from the surgical department of the medical blogosphere. While your there, be sure to check out the rest of general surgeon bongi’s great blog.
The Surgexperiences back catalogue can be found here.
Check out the call for hosts and contact carnival founder Jeff if you’re ready.
Swan neck camera
February 28, 2008 § Leave a comment
When I first started filming surgery I was presented with a camera I’d never seen before. They called it a “swan neck camera” and the department that used it thought it was the greatest invention in video ever. « Read the rest of this entry »
Check out SurgeXperiences 115
February 17, 2008 § Leave a comment
Edition 115 of SurgeXperiences – the blog carnival of all things surgical – is up at Made A Difference For That One.
The theme is “Full Metal Scalpel: The love-hate relationship between surgery and war,” and it is – as always – packed with interesting posts.
Also interesting are the pictures featured. They’re all from the National Museum of Health and Medicine exhibit “Battlefield Medicine 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam”. Visit their photo gallery for more great pictures.
Please consider heeding the call for hosts.
You’re not recording sound, are you?
February 12, 2008 § 6 Comments
There is one question I always get when I’m filming an operation. No matter if the surgical team knows me or not, someone always asks me, with a concerned look on their face, if I’m recording the sound (photo credit).
« Read the rest of this entry »
Surgical steel (well, metal anyway)
February 9, 2008 § 3 Comments
Most people are not familiar with medical terminology. To some it’s just a lot of mumbo jumbo. To others it’s a source of horror.
The foremost purveyor of horror in music is death metal. Raging drums, ripping guitars and growling vocals all combine to create a dark and aggressive expression. Some bands choose to top this off with lyrics about war and destruction. Others feed off the shock effect of the prince of darkness. And some turn to medicine and surgery for help.
I’ll take you on a tour of some of the strangest choices of band name. Strange, that is, from a medical perspective. « Read the rest of this entry »
Check out SurgeXperiences 113
January 20, 2008 § Leave a comment
SurgeXperiences 113 is up at Counting Sheep, the brilliant blog of an anesthetist nurse.
Check it out for some interesting tales of after hours surgery, accompanied by historical photos from the OR.
Edition 114 will be hosted by Anesthesioboist on February 3rd. Send in your posts now! You should also consider hosting an edition yourself.
A false alarm
January 19, 2008 § 3 Comments
“Have you ever fainted,” is a question I often get. Fortunately I have not. There were a couple of close calls during my first year in this job, but my body has adapted and I’ve learnt some tricks along the way. Falling unconscious over the patient with camera and all, that would really be a nightmare.
Some time ago I witnessed a senior resident having her worst nightmare come true. Almost.
I was filming a midfacial degloving. This is an approach used to get access to the nasal cavity. « Read the rest of this entry »
PrimeSkills in Surgery
January 16, 2008 § 1 Comment
Wikisurgery, a free encyclopedia of surgery, contains the very interesting PrimeSkills in Surgery. Originally published on CD-ROM, this is a training program in basic surgical skills made by British general surgeon Michael Edwards. « Read the rest of this entry »
DeBakey’s surgical film stand
January 12, 2008 § 7 Comments
It’s a little-known fact that Michael E. DeBakey, world-renowned pioneer of cardiovascular surgery, was also one of the first surgeons to capture his operations on film. I only discovered it recently myself. Having heard the call for DeBakey forceps in the OR a lot, it was interesting to find out he had also invented equipment for filming surgery (photo credit).
In the 1960’s DeBakey started capturing some of his operations on film for educational purposes. « Read the rest of this entry »
Darkness on the edge of wound
January 7, 2008 § 2 Comments
If you’ve watched any videos of open surgery you’ve probably noticed the apparent darkness of the OR. The lights seem to be turned off, except for the surgical light which keeps the surgical field brightly lit.
And yet, surgeons don’t perform open operations shrouded in darkness, do they? « Read the rest of this entry »
The Sterile Eye 