It is a natural response or reaction of a person to have tremors or feel shaky in situations that induce anxiety such as presenting at school, perhaps, a serious talk, a dangerous scenario, and of course, a life and death situation.
But do you know one of the people who are more prone to these kinds of situations? Surgeons. Yes, surgeons. These medical practitioners are exposed to anxiety-inducing events since the work environment they are working at is constantly bustling with patients in and out of the hospital and these said patients could possibly have critical conditions and surgeons have to deal with them.
But how do surgeons be able to have the capability of remaining calm in the midst of a dire situation? Do their hands tremble while they are performing a surgical process on their patients?
You will find out in this article whether surgeons need steady hands and how they do it.
Do Surgeons Need Steady Hands?
Do surgeons really need steady hands while performing a surgery? The answer would have to depend on what kind of surgery they will be performing. Surgeons are known for their dexterity in handling complex and nerve wracking situations when it comes to surgery and after years of medical training, it is for certain that having steady hands for them is not entirely a must.
Although in some cases, such as brain or cardiovascular surgery, both surgeries deal with the more sensitive parts of the body, a surgeon needs a set of steadier hands to avoid damage or errors in the surgery that will lead to further worse situations.
Why Does a Surgeon Have Steady Hands?
Do surgeons have tremors? Or do they undergo a specific training that trains their hands to be extremely steady when it comes to operating such a graphical process?
First of all, surgeons do get tremors. Every person has tremors. Some may just be worse than the other but surgeons, they do have tremors however, when faced with the responsibility to save a person’s life, one can automatically think that their process of saving and curing this person must have no errors.
Surgeons have a huge responsibility in a person who is battling life and death which is why they could not afford to think about unnecessary thoughts like possibly cutting an artery. They do not think about negative thoughts which makes them calm and collected to be able to handle such immense pressure if it was viewed by a regular person.
How Does A Surgeon Have Steady Hands?
Before a surgery or during their free time, surgeons take the time to exercise their hands and improve on their skills more by doing these following activities and exercises:
Skill-Improving Activities:
- They practice their stitching on paper since paper can easily tear off.
- Some surgeons practice their surgical skills by trying to assemble miniatures or paper cutouts together using tweezers
Hand Exercises:
- Finger strength trainers. These types of trainers work best in improving the strength of the fingers and its grip.
- Hand grippers. Using hand grippers could increase the muscle in a person’s hand and fingers and it also improves their grip on an object. Not only that, hand grippers do improve the muscles of a forearm which gives it more strength and stability.
- Specialized suturing skill trainers
- Squeeze ball sets. Squeeze ball sets also work the same as hand grippers however this has a softer and cushiony feel to it.
Do Surgeons Take Any Caffeinated Drinks?
It is a known fact that caffeine most especially found in coffee can cause palpitations and mild tremors but do you think surgeons miss this global favorite drink? Of course not. Surgeons drink coffee on a daily basis since they are in dire need for it. Imagine having to work for more than12 hours a day and there could be some emergency need of medical assistance which makes them stay at hospitals until the wee hours of the day.
A surgeon’s schedule can be unpredictable due to the number of patients they have to deal with on a daily basis and coffee is their go-to drink to provide them more energy in the workplace because they know they do not have time to sleep anymore.
But despite having to drink probably more than just a cup of coffee daily, surgeons are pretty confident that the side effects of a caffeinated drink would not hinder their performance in the operating room.
What are some other Factors that could Disrupt a Surgeon’s Performance While Operating?
Besides hand tremors or shaky hands, there are actually some unavoidable factors that a surgeon could have and that could affect their performance in the operation room.
Here are the following factors:
- Arthritis. One of the most common diseases among people of age and if a surgeon has arthritis, chances are they could experience joint pain in their fingers which will distract them from performing the surgery efficiently since they are in pain. Arthritis also makes it hard to move the joints because of the swelling.
- Hyperhidrosis or sweaty palms. If a surgeon has hyperhidrosis, they would not have an easier grip on the surgical tools and chances are, their hand could slip or loosen its grip from the tool which could result in an accidental cut to some organs or an artery. Sure, surgeons do wear surgical gloves to ensure sanitation and reduce infection to the patient but the gloves stick so tight to the skin that it induces more sweat production in the hands.
- Scleroderma or thickening of skin. It is a rare skin condition that causes the skin of the hands to harden and if a surgeon has this skin condition, they would not be able to operate really well since their skin lacks the elasticity that affects the movements of the hands.
The Bottomline
Basically, in conclusion, surgeons do not have steady hands because they, too, experience hand tremors like the rest of us. It is just through their extensive training in medical school and in residency, they gradually build up their skill of having steadier hands when doing a critical medical procedure.
This article would also like to address that every person could have a surgeon’s dexterity in hyperfocus and remaining calm under any circumstances. This article also states that surgeons are only humans who are just extremely professional and trained very well to have the skill to not shake when dealing with graphical views.
