Intended for healthcare professionals

Student Education

Teach yourself to suture for under a tenner

BMJ 2006; 332 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.060254 (Published 01 February 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;332:060254
  1. Iain Varley, senior house officer in plastic and reconstructive surgery1,
  2. Duncan Taylor, senior house officer in plastic and reconstructive surgery
  1. 1Northern General Hospital, Sheffield S5 7AU

Suturing is one of the basic surgical skills that medical students can learn. Iain Varley and Duncan Taylor show you a cost effective method to get you up to speed. Take one banana …

Suturing is useful not only in surgery but in other specialties as well. Whether it's suturing a central line in place or stitching up a laceration, it's a skill you should practise before you need to use it. Many universities now have clinical skills laboratories, where equipment is available to learn on, but it's something you can also do at home. Here we describe how to teach yourself to suture using basic equipment which is readily available, and a banana (fig 1).

Fig 1

You don't need an operating theatre to learn how to suture - but it helps

What you will need

Getting hold of the basic equipment is easy. Have a word with your local emergency department to see if they can spare a disposable suture set. If you can't get hold of one from the hospital, surgical instruments are readily available by mail order, many costing less than £1 ($1.8; €1.5) each.

Sutures are more …

View Full Text

Log in

Log in through your institution

Subscribe

* For online subscription