Surgeons are always being pressured to do their best. That is understandable since their job often involves the life or death of a patient. This requires you to stay sharp when it comes to your skills. There are several things you can do to ensure that you will always be performing your best.
Learn to Warm Up
A habit that many surgeons need to develop is how to warm before surgery. You see everyone doing it when they are about to do something majorly stressful and taxing, so why not do it? Concert musicians tune their instruments and play practice strings while athletes stretch out and get their bodies limber. But surgeons mostly just wait in their offices doing paperwork and jump into the operation like it was no big deal.
That is why you should change that habit of yours and start a new one. All you need to do are simple warm-up exercises that are similar to the movements that you will be using the operation. This should help improve your mental focus and your responsiveness. You’ll notice that this can be a big help, especially when you are tired.
Have a Checklist
Surgery is an important task that is almost like defusing a bomb. You need to take it seriously. This is why it is advised to have a checklist running before, during, and after the operation. Run through it to ensure that everything from the bipolar forceps to your surgical gown is ready for the job.
As for your checklist, you should detail everything that needs to be done for each part of the operation and have your staff trained to check them off one by one. The process starts even before the operation, with the list confirming the patient’s name and the purpose of the operation. It continues until the end, with all of the items properly checked and confirmed.
A surgical checklist can be a big boost when it comes to your performance, ensuring that more operations succeed and patients come out of them well.
Keep Learning, Teaching, and Practicing
You need to go and keep learning. There are conferences and doctors out there who have a wealth of knowledge to teach. Find time to develop new skills and to practice them. Don’t just learn techniques either. You will also need to learn how to teach skills. Teaching a skill can actually be helpful at times since it can allow you to better understand it.
Besides all that, keep practicing. There is always room in improvement when it comes to skills. You can do it quicker, cleaner, and safer. If you can, practice it.
Being a surgeon is a big responsibility on your shoulders. But you wouldn’t be still in this field if you couldn’t handle it. Remember the tips above so that your skills will be sharp as ever and you can go on saving lives. Don’t forget to get only the best tools and equipment for your practice to ensure the safety of your patients.
