Assisting at Surgical Operations A Practical Guide

There are many superb books on how to do operations but there are few or none on how to assist at them, and none written either by or for medical students or doctors. Therefore, the skills that make an expert surgical assistant are difficult to acquire. Normally, they can only be learnt in a haphazard way, by spending years in the operating theatre. This book describes those skills in a concise and systematic way, in surgery in general, and in ten different speciality areas. Although intended mainly for clinical-level medical students and junior doctors, other people who assist at surgical operations, including general practitioners, nurse assistants and surgical technologists, will also find it useful. Whether planning a career in surgery, or simply aiming for high marks in a surgical rotation, there are few better ways to impress a surgeon than by skilfully assisting at surgical operations.

Foreword Guy Maddern; Preface C. Whalan; Part I. An Introduction to the Operating Theatre: 1. General conduct in the operating theatre suite C. Whalan; 2. Universal precautions C. Whalan; 3. Clothing in the operating theatre C. Whalan; 4. Personnel: who's who in the operating theatre C. Whalan; Part II. The Operation Itself: 5. Preparing for the operation C. Whalan; 6. General intra-operative procedures C. Whalan; 7. General stages common to all operations C. Whalan; 8. Sterility and the 'sterile zone' C. Whalan; 9. Tissue planes, traction and counter-traction C. Whalan; 10. Surgical instruments: their names and how to use them C. Whalan; Part III. Assisting at Special Types of Surgery: 11. Cardiothoracic surgery C. Jurisevic; 12. Laparoscopic surgery C. Whalan; 13. Neurosurgery A. Abou-Hamden and S. Santoreneos; 14. Obstetric and gynaecological surgery A. Swart and E. Atkinson; 15. Ophthalmic surgery G. Fraenkel; 16. Orthopaedic surgery J. Van Essen; 17. Otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery R. Douglas and Peter-John Wormald; 18. Paediatric surgery C. Kirby; 19. Plastic surgery and microsurgery G. Offer; 20. Surgery in difficult circumstances: (1) Rural hospitals M. Bruening; 21. Surgery in difficult circumstances: (2) undeveloped countries P. Riddell; 22. Vascular surgery: (1) open surgery P. Puckridge; 23. Vascular surgery: (2) endovascular surgery K. Phillips and P. Puckridge; Part IV. Immediately after the Operation: 24. Immediately after the operation C. Whalan; Glossary; Suggested further reading; Reference; Index.

This book is a practical manual for assisting at surgical operations. Simple language and diagrams describe both the basic principles of surgical assisting, and advanced techniques needed in the surgical subspecialities. It will help medical students, junior doctors and surgical technologists excel at assisting at any surgical operation.

Dr Comus Whalan is Visiting Surgeon at Noarlunga Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia.