This handbook was written and revised by Mr Bill Thomas, Blond surgical skills tutor and chairman of the working party at The Royal College of Surgeons of England, with assistance from members of the intercollegiate working party (see below).
Published by The Royal College of Surgeons of England
Registered Charity No. 212808
Raven Department of Education
The Royal College of Surgeons of England
35-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields
London WC2A 3PE
Tel: 020 7869 6300
Fax: 020 7869 6320
Email: education@rcseng.ac.uk
Internet: www.rcseng.ac.uk
© The Royal College of Surgeons of England 2002
First edition 1996
Second edition 1998
Third edition 2002
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, no guarantee can be given that all errors and omissions have been excluded. No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
The intercollegiate working party would like to thank the following companies whose technical input and financial support has been invaluable in producing this third edition:
We are particularly grateful to Mr Nick Cheshire, Mr Elliot Chisholm, Mr David Hay, Mrs Sue Miles and Mr John Shepperd for their contributions to the first edition and also to Mr Chris Fowler and the minimal access therapy training unit for permission to use extracts from the Basic Skills for Safe Laparoscopic Surgery handbook. Additional material in the minimal access section was written by Mr George Hanna and Mr David Smith and the new video footage was provided by Mr David Hay, Mr Graham Sunderland, Mr Bill Thomas and Mr Peter Wilson. The new orthopaedic material was provided by Mr Nick Gilham and Mr David Large.
This handbook may be purchased from The Royal College of Surgeons of England
and used in support of courses and/or training activities other than the Basic
Surgical Skills courses approved by one of the four surgical royal colleges.
However, The Royal College of Surgeons of England takes no responsibility
whatsoever for the use of its course materials in any context, other than as
part of a basic surgical skills course it has approved.
Bill Thomas (chairman)
Chris Fowler
Professor Jack Hardcastle
Jerry Kirk
Professor John Monson
Rodney Peyton
John Shepperd
Denis Wilkins
Andrea Kelly (educational adviser)
Margaret Jacques and Jai Ramcharan (technical advisers)
Saskia Smethurst (secretary to the working party)
Bill Thomas (chairman) (The Royal College of Surgeons of England)
David Smith; David Large (The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh)
Professor Edward Guiney; Professor Oscar Traynor; (The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland)
Graham Sunderland; Kay Whittle (The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow)
Judy Murfitt; Peter Oudejans; Steve Enticknap (The Royal College of Surgeons of England)
Please note: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, no guarantee can be given that in its compilation all errors and omissions have been excluded. Readers wishing to use this information are recommended therefore to verify the facts for themselves when appropriate.
Photography and design by the photography studio and publications department, The Royal College of Surgeons of England
Illustrations by Patrick Elliott, medical artist, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield and Naomi Gonzalez
Appendix A illustrations by Ethicon Limited
Printed by Dexter, Dartford, Kent