Operative Arthroscopy

How do paediatric orthopaedic surgeons learn to operate?Their training consultant is eager to share his or her theoretical knowledge and clinical skills, but when it comes to surgery, there may be a distinct reluctance to hand over the scalpel.Consequently, many surgeons involved in children's orthopaedics tell of the nightmare of the first few years in practice as they learned on the job, having had relatively little first-hand experience of performing major surgery on children.During this time, they also came to realise for themselves that the very nature of surgery on children can make it very difficult to hand over a case to a trainee.Paediatric orthopaedic surgeons therefore have some reliance on operative atlases.Some of these feature heavily annotated line diagrams which score on clarity but lose on authenticity.It is difficult to relate a neat diagram of an open hip reduction to the small but terrifying reality of a bleeding hole in an infant's groin.