As part of the BSc (Hons) Rehabilitation in Sport and Exercise programme students are required to complete a minimum of 400 clinical hours. These take place over the 3 years and can be in a variety of different places, for example, clinics and professional sports teams. Students are advised to try out different places so that they can decide where they might like to work as part of their career.
Amy Day, a third year student was fortunate enough to see surgery on the shoulder as part of her placement. Here she explains what her morning entailed...
"Today I was very fortunate to be able to observe a shoulder arthroscopy. I arrived at the theatres early in the morning to get scrubbed up and meet the team in the operating theatre. The assisting surgeon and theatre manager worked methodically to lay out all of the equipment that would be required during the procedure. There was a great deal of preparation involved prior to the surgery, much more so than I had ever considered.
The theatre manager explained that the purpose of the surgery was subacromial decompression and rotator cuff repair; however he said that an assessment of the rotator cuff tear would be made once the surgeon had visibility of the structures so he could ascertain if a repair was necessary, or indeed viable. He explained that often the extent of the pathology is different to what is seen from imaging such as ultrasound.
When the patient was under anaesthetic, they were bought into theatre and placed gently into the optimum position for the surgeon to access the shoulder. The surgeon made small incisions in the patient’s shoulder and inserted a rod with a camera into one, and used the other to insert the required tool. Two further incisions were made during the course of the surgery to enable the surgeon to access the required structures. The camera images were shown on a large screen which was fantastic as I was able to see exactly what the surgeon was doing as he operated. The images on the screen were vastly enlarged, as the tools the surgeon was using were quite small in real terms. The surgeon provided a commentary as he undertook the procedure and pointed out different structures such as the acromion, the humeral head, and the biceps and supraspinatus tendons.
The whole experience was absolutely fascinating and I was made very welcome by the theatres team who explained every step of the procedure to me. It was great to see what happens during a surgical procedure before a patient is referred to rehab for post-operative treatment. The surgical team have very kindly offered me a further opportunity to return and observe a full knee replacement. Although I am a little nervous of this, as it will be a lot more graphic than an arthroscopic procedure, I do feel it will be another amazing experience to increase my understanding of what the body endures in surgery."
Giving students the opportunity to see live surgery can really enhance how they approach post-surgery rehabilitation.
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This blog post was produced & edited by Vicki Evans
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