All through anatomy last year I always thought, why can I not use these hemostats like the rest of my class mates? They always made it seem so easy to lock and unlock the tool.
It wasn't until just about 2 months ago that I finally realized why I have been struggling with my hemostats.
I was in a suturing workshop and we were learning how to grab the sutures, I looked over at one of my class mates using the hemostats and realized that he was using his right hand as most people do and I saw that he could use his ring finger to grip and pull up on the hemostat to unlock it. I being left handed thought, "Oh, have I been doing this wrong?" I quickly looked down at my left hand holding my hemostats, and quickly realized that hemostats do not unlock in the same way for left handed people. In order for a left handed person to unlock their hemostats we have to push with our ring finger to unlock. Most of the time with dry hands there is enough friction to allow the unlocking to happen, but when in surgery or the anatomy lab, friction is not on your side.
Naturally I looked for a left handed set of hemostats as I need them for my skills lab next semester. Low and behold while hemostats can be purchased for 10 for $1 on Ebay, I am stuck having to buy special tools. For my class I need a straight and a curved, the lowest price I was able to find was $75 for each or $150 for the set. Which is more than the total of all my other tools combined. With my wife and one child on the way $150 is more than I can spend on two hemostats that I will most likely never use again at the moment, and I'm not quite sure what to do.
Left Handed Hemostats
Do I spend the money, and hope that I can make rent, or do I learn to use my tools in a mediocre fashion and hobble along with right handed tools or learn to suture with my non dominant hand? I tend to think that I can be good with my right hand, but I would probably wonder if I could have been great with my left.
If any one has a suggestion on what do to let me know, I'm all ears. Thanks!
