Press "Enter" to skip to content

The Rules of Surgery

There are some basic commandments that have been passed down to every surgical staff, resident and student.

  1. Eat when you can eat
  2. Sleep when you can sleep
  3. Read when you can read
  4. Shit when you can shit
  5. Go home when you can go home
  6. Don’t stand when you can sit down
  7. Don’t sit when you can lie down
  8. Don’t stay awake when you can sleep
  9. Don’t fix it if it’s not broken
  10. Don’t fuck with the pancreas

For everything else, there’s Surgical Recall

The only book you need to be pimp-proof on your surgical rotation and in the ER. I would say, the first 200 pages provide the highest yield content for someone who has never been in the OR. They have chapters on instruments, sutures, knot tying, wounds, drains and tubes, anatomy pearls, complications, ward emergencies and much more. Check out the free online version or Surgical Recall at Google Books. One last thing, buy just the basic Surgical Recall, the Advanced Surgical Recall book isn’t any better.

Buy it now at Surgical Recall, Fifth North American Edition (Recall Series)

(Visited 13,695 times, 6 visits today)

7 Comments

  1. m
    m July 10, 2023

    Why does everyone hate the pancreas?

    • medaholic
      medaholic July 11, 2023

      We don’t hate the pancreas, you respect it. Because if you touch it and it gets inflammed, it gets nasty. It becomes soft and mushy and messy, hard to sew and control. Plus it can leak digestive enzymes in your abdomen and digest and destroy all your organs. Stay far from it!

  2. Josh July 11, 2023

    That, and post-Whipple anastomotic leaks = long stays with multiple washouts, ICU care, and wound closure by secondary intent…

  3. […] great introduction to all things surgical. I’ve posted before about how essential and useful this book is when you’re starting out. If you’ve never […]

  4. K
    K August 21, 2023

    orthopedic surgery rules are easier:

    eat when you can / sleep when you can / fuck when you can / and, thou shalt not varus

    • medaholic
      medaholic August 23, 2023

      Never heard of the ortho rules but it sounds pretty legit.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.