Hear me out….do you think you could perform an appendicitis if you had to?

[Ettubrutus]

Let’s say you had 48hrs to practice

Plus a surgical dummy to practice on

And books (you don’t have the internet)

And all the equipment you’d need

AND the person is going to die if you DONT do it

a) Do you think you could pull it off?

*surgeons of MN please come and tell us if the average person could or not given the above

** you get an assistant to suction and stuff

So your tipsy and operating. Marvellous! 🤣🤣

If someone is that poorly in front of you that your thinking of operating and they might die they've probably perforated. Then it is not a simple appendectomy at all! A good percentage of appendicitis can be treated with antibiotics but it may reoccur. We learnt this during covid.

I've seen many appendectomies, I don't fancy myself a surgeon. I like to stay up the top end (anaesthetic nurse)

Ok I feel we’ve got a bit off track here

Nobody is eating anything 🤦‍♀️

If the person was going to die and was willing for me to go ahead then I think I’d have a dig about and give them a minuscule chance of survival. I don’t watch enough surgical programs to know for certain though.

Otoh I’m an expert on the American small claims court system thanks to JJ so I could get them compensation to pay for a proper surgeon if money was the issue.

So we are talking an apocalyptic situation where there is no option of finding medical care, but we do have access to supplies and knowledge. If the person is definitely going to die anyway, I would start studying and then give them the choice. Do I think I could be successful in 48 hours? No, I think they would bleed to death and I would be traumatized. I just don’t think it’s likely to be able to work fast enough with no experience and no practical training.

now, if you have the equipment and books, but no doctor, what you should do is pick someone to start serving right away. See the tv series Station 11 for a good example of this. There is 1 Doctor, but she isn’t enough. They enlist a man to serve and she explains that given the circumstances, his job is to largely be a witness to death. Along the way he learns and becomes an actual doctor by training on the job.

Well if they were going to definitely die if I didn’t and I was the only chance of saving them I think I’d have to give it a go.
Only problem is when I see people’s insides on telly I cannot discern one thing from another so I’d really struggle. Plus, I can’t sew for toffee so on the complete off chance that I managed to locate the appendix and snip it off I’d be unable to sew up the end or whatever you would need to do and wouldn’t be able to sew up the gaping wound I would have made by getting in 😂

Might need rinsing first then 😂😂😂

It's bowel... I wouldn't , bit too faecal for me😂

I think all those seasons of ER would see me through this, I'd give it a go!

You remember when all those men said they could definitely land a passenger plane if they had to? Just based off playing computer games

I feel we’re a bit under confident as a group here

I'd need a diazepam first but I'd be straight in there with my best little paring knife.

I am methodical and excellent at building flat pack furniture so I’d give it a bloody good go. However I feel nauseous chopping up chicken and am not great with blood and guts so I’d have to keep my eyes half shut. On balance, I’m not really fancying the patients chances but I’d still try.

If I had 48 hours to study I'd give it a good shot

And promptly pass out at the first sight of blood

I regularly diagnose patients on Casualty/Grey's Anatomy long before the actual doctors do, so I am unreasonably confident that I could! (I would first order LFTs, Us and Es, cross-match, group and save, and I would be ready to initiate the majority haemorrhage protocol at any moment).

Absolutely.

Yes I've seen all of Greys Anatomy and House so it would be fine

Sorry I’m just really irritated by a programme where a good character dies because they couldn’t pull a simple appendectomy off

I haven’t watched the show so apologies, but why did the person who was unable to perform the appendectomy die? were they shot or something for getting it wrong and letting the patient die?

Good question, good question

Let’s just say you know
I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in so long. Thanks op!! I do love on tv when they perform something with just alcohol to clean the wound and instruments. I’d have killed the person on the first incision 😅

No, on the basis that some of my surgical colleagues make surgery look really difficult even after years of practice

I get my left and right mixed up so there's a high chance I'd remove a kidney by mistake. If the person was going to die anyway - say, we were stranded on a desert island with no other possibility of help - I'd give it a go. I'm not bad at sewing so I'd be alright closing the wound up.

Not at all.

Yes, a simple appy? Of course I could (I'm up to season 9)

I'd have a bash, I'm quite quick at picking things up, so I don't think it would be an issue as long as I've got my reading glasses

DH is confident he could do it too - but someone might have close up for him, I've seen him sew a button on and it was a bloody disaster.

I get my left and right mixed up so there's a high chance I'd remove a kidney by mistake

The kidneys are not in the abdomen.

🤣🤣🤣

Yes id definitely have a go. I'm just not sure what you do with the stump that's left. Would that need to be stitched up to stop it bleeding? I'd be fine with the rest of it, I'm not squeamish.