Study says that surgeons who have a hangover are more likely to make mistakes
April 20th, 2011 - 6:26 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattNew York, April 20 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Alcohol the night before a major surgery does not seem a good idea for surgeons. In a study to determine the effect of alcohol on surgeons, the researchers recruited 6 experienced surgeons.
The participants were made to party the night away. The following morning, they were summoned to perform virtual surgery. The researchers were baffled by their findings because though only one of the surgeons still had alcohol in the system, all the surgeons made more mistakes during the surgery compared with their baseline test.
All the surgeons were experienced in laparoscopic procedures. The procedure demands high cognitive ability to avoid mistakes. The surgeons were made to perform the surgery using the simulator three times. Interestingly in their first attempt, the surgeons completed the surgery much faster. In the subsequent tests, the surgeons slowed down but they still made errors.
The study has been published in the journal, Archives of Surgery.
The researchers admitted that the scale of the research was too small to make any general conclusions. They propose further study to determine the period that surgeons should be asked to refrain from alcohol before they walk into the theater. They also advise that surgeons should be advised to stay away from alcohol the night before they perform surgery.
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Tags: archives of surgery, baseline test, cognitive ability, conclusions, effect of alcohol, hangover, journal archives, laparoscopic procedures, major surgery, participants, three times, virtual surgery