When the fictitious surgeons on TV's Grey's Anatomy are having a rough day, they often retire to a nearby bar and wash away their blues with a few beers (or tequila shots). Let's hope they aren't planning to return to the hospital for surgery the next morning. A new study suggests a night of heavy drinking, even if it doesn't result in a hangover, can impair a surgeon's skills in performing minimally invasive surgery the next day.
The admittedly limited study — only 16 students and 8 surgeons highly trained in laparoscopic surgery participated — had researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland taking the group out for dinner and instructing half of them to drink until intoxicated. The next morning, the study group arrived at a lab to try their skills on a virtual reality laparoscopic surgery simulator.
Breathalizer tests showed that most of the subjects had sobered up by the first simulation test at 9 a.m. (their skills were tested again at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.). But those who drank the night before had lower skill levels at all the tests; for example, the drinkers made an average of 19 errors at 9 a.m., compared to 8 errors among the non-drinking group. Although the rate of errors fell throughout the day, the drinking group still had more errors than the non-drinkers at the 4 p.m. test.
The authors, whose findings were published in the Archives of Surgery, acknowledge the small sample but conclude that "given the considerable cognitive, perceptual, visuospatial, and psychomotor challenges posed by modern image-guided surgical techniques, abstinence from alcohol the night before operating may be a sensible consideration for practicing surgeons."
Currently there are no rules in place governing how long or how much doctors should abstain from drinking the night before surgery. The study authors say their findings suggest "the need to define recommendations regarding alcohol consumption the night before assuming clinical surgical responsibilities."
Irene Tsikitas
