I am interested in this part of medicine. Is there any way I could learn to do this without going the eight yeats in Med school? Are there books I should read on the subject? It’s kind of a “probably will never use it” interest.
Thanks!
Call me lazy but I usually use an old second hand sewing machine. 
I have been to the doctor to get stiches before and since I am not squimish I watched him sew me up. There isn’t much technique that I can see. I have removed stiches from someone before and that wasn’t hard either. They did scream a little but there was only five stitches so it was over quick. I have aquired some surgical suture kits for my first aid kit. The next time I need them I plan on sewing my self up(those doctors aren’t cheap). The only thing is it would be dificult to sew with one hand if the wound is on an arm or impossible to sew if the wound is on my back or some place like that.
Try practicing on a whole chicken carcass from the market, That’s what I used in med school. That was about the only thing I could afford to eat in those days. We were told to try suturing oranges, but the chicken was better.
I perfected my “one-hand-knot” technique on chickens.
What was your other hand doing to the chicken??
Chortle
One-hand knot is a bit of a misnomer. You know how when you’re tying up a package with a square knot, you need a friend to put his finger on the first half-hitch to keep it in place while you tie the second half-hitch? A one-hand knot is a variation on the square knot that doesn’t require the extra finger.
My mom was a nurse, and she said that they practiced on oranges. Since nurses don’t generally suture, I’m not sure why she learned how, maybe to fill in when doc is hung over or something. Anyway, I’d bet that competent suturing is harder than it looks, at least to avoid looking like Frankenstein’s Monster after the wound is healed, I dunno.
You could probably find a little book on the subject in just about any medical bookstore. (Look near your favorite med school.)
Suturing is not that difficult–it does take some practice, but I’d say just about anyone could have the basics down in a day or so. The instrument tie and the square knot are the ones we learn as med students, except for the showoffs who want to do the one-hander.
Keep in mind that the knots are designed to be performed with a needle attached to one end of the string.
Dr. J
Thanks for all the advice! When preparing a wound for stitches, what do you have to do? Is there cauterization involved, or is it okay to sew while the wound is bleeding? I know you hafta be sanitary with it. Where can I find a suture kit?
By the way, I have seen practice on peaches because they have that nice little valley in the side.
It depends on what you are trying to suture that make it either easy or difficult. I worked on a medical device to sew viens onto the heart and found out just how critical sewing can be.
A good heart surgion has to be able to sew arteries on very quickly and very tightltly to insure that the operation is a success. Eight minutes per artery is considered very fast and a triple or quadruple bypass requires 6 to 8 sewing operations. Patients who are opened up on the table for more that 45 minutes are at very high risk of severe complications or death.
Bear in mind that these arteries can be as small as 1 millimeter in diameter, so if you are going to practice to be a heart surgeon you had better be practicing on the viens of the chicken.
I had ten stitches in my foot a few days ago. Here is what you do.
- say something like "Holy shit, how did you do that?
- Use needle to poke hole in top of a sodium chloride solution bottle.
- Use the bottle like a squirt gun on the wound.
- Pour iodine on the wound.
- Stich it up.
Between 1 and 2 is where they do the lidocaine injections, but I dont think you will have any of that in your first aid kit.
More details about what happened to me are here
I can get suture kits anytime. I don’t buy them but someone gives them to me. Its not like they are a drug or something. I don’t know where you would get kits except try a medical supply distributor.
He may be a modern day Frankenstein.