PCOM General Surgery Residency Program

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	Surgery Clerkship

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	Surgical Instruments

	Surgery Club & SOSA

Surgical Instruments

Basic Surgical Instruments Tutorial

There are thousands of surgical instruments that you may come into contact with during your rotation on a surgical service. It would be impossible to memorize the various names and uses of all these tools but it may be very helpful to know a few of the more common instruments you will see. Keep in mind that some instruments have more than one name!

Retractors

Retractors do just what their name implies: they retract or hold something out of the way so that the person operating has ideal visualization of the operative field. These are common instruments for students to come in contact with as they will often be the ones "retracting" for the majority of cases. Remember that when you are holding a retractor try to keep it in the same place and same orientation that it was in when it was handed to you. Do not grasp the instrument too tight as this will only result in your hand falling asleep and not necessarily offer any better view for you or anyone else. Also keep in mind that the position of the retractor that gives YOU the best view is not necessarily the position that gives the surgeon the best view.

Deaver Retractor

Volkmann Rectractor, "Rakes"

Richardson Retractor. "Rich"

Senn Miller Retractor. "Senn"

Army-Navy Retractor. Rumor has it the longer end is the "Navy" end and the shorter end is the "Army" end.

Kocher Retractor

Scissors

Most of the time the student will be given the job of cutting suture. What may seem like a menial task is actually a very important one. Different types of suture need to be cut at different lengths from the knot depending on how well the particular material "holds" a knot so it doesn't slip. When cutting sutures, only use the appropriate suture scissors. Using fine point dissection scissors to cut suture can quickly dull their blade. Most important to remember...don't cut the knot!

Suture Scissors

Metzenbaum Scissors or Lahey Scissors. "Metz"

Bergmann Scissors. "Bandage scissors"

Potts-Smith Scissors. "Potts"

Suction Devices

Quite simply, these instruments are used to keep the surgical field dry so that the surgeon can see the operative field. Hint...if there is too much blood or fluid for YOU to see the field, there is too much blood or fluid for ANYONE to see the field.

Yankauer Suction Tip

Poole Suction. "Poole Sucker"

Clamps

As with other instruments, the type of tissue you are holding will dictate which clamp you use. When clamping tissue it is best to use the least amount of pressure that is needed to adequately hold the tissue.

Backhaus-Roeder Towel Clamp. "Towel clamp"

Forceps

Don't call them "tweezers"!

Adson Forceps. "Skin forceps", "Skin pick-ups"

Babcock Intestinal Forceps. "Babcock"

Judd-Allis Tissue Forceps. "Allis" (pronounced "alice")

DeBakey Tissue Forceps. "Debakeys"

Kocher Tissue Forceps. "Kocher" (pronounced "coker")

Hemostats

As their name implies, these devices can be used to grabbing and holding blood vessels that are bleeding. Typically they are used to grab just about anything from tissue to suture to holding the surgical drapes in place.

Schnidt Tonsil Hemostat. "Tonsil clamp"

Rochester-Pean Hemostats. "Hemostat", "Stat"

Rankin-Kelly Hemostats. "Kelly"

Scalpel Blades