An Arduous Road to Learning Otorhinolaryngology Surgeries by a Left-Handed Surgeon
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An Arduous Road to Learning Otorhinolaryngology Surgeries by a Left-Handed Surgeon Madhuri Arora1
Received: 25 September 2020 / Accepted: 6 October 2020 Ó Association of Otolaryngologists of India 2020
Abstract The skilfulness required for learning ENT surgeries makes it a long learning curve, and more so in case of left-handed surgeons due to lack of specific mentoring and tailored training programme. This letter is intended to highlight the need for affording adequate instructional and teaching modules for budding left-handed ENT surgeons. Keywords Left hand surgeons Ambidexterity Sinistrality Otorhinolaryngology
Mam/Sir, Sinistrality or left-handedness and its ramification for general surgeons and orthopaedicians have long been discussed. The onerous task of using needle holders, right handed scissors and hemostatic clamps by left-handed surgeons is a well-known fact [1]. The data for left-handed Ear Nose Throat (ENT) surgeons is largely missing. The skilfulness and dexterity required for learning ENT surgeries makes it a very long learning curve. The lack of specific mentoring, and teachings pertaining to handedness during training for left-handed surgeons makes the process even slower. In a study conducted by Kuhn and Edelstein on left-handed otolaryngologists, they found that very few of them received dexterity-specific training and most of them made procedural modifications by trial and error [2]. A study on innate dexterity for endoscopic manipulations found left handed operators performing less efficiently in & Madhuri Arora [email protected] 1
terms of execution time as compared to their right counterparts [3]. However, in a study on the effect of handedness in a microlaryngeal surgery simulator, the authors found no significant outcome difference based on hand preference [4]. Set-up in the operating room including the placement of the anaesthetic machine, over-head lightings, suction tubings etc. are all done in concordance to the right based bias making it ergonomically less conducive to the left hand surgeon. It is needless to emphasise the importance of observing the surgeries and performing them on live patients at a later stage, the left handed surgeon has very few resources if any to learn the proper orientation and instrumentation, a major disadvantage we have belonging to this minority group. A common practise most left-handed surgeons resort to is developing forced ambidexterity. Ambidexterity allows for better ergonomics in instrumentation, better structural visualisation, lesser hand tremors while operating under microscope and operational comfort regardless of the side of the lesion involved [5]. Eventual development of ambidexterity and adaptation to the right biased domains both within the operating room and outside it cannot still undermine the inevitability to use the dominant hand. Therefore, adequate instructional modules, guidance videos and tailored training programmes should be afforded to budding ENT surgeons with left-dominance. Also, since the d
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