EN2.7 | ENT Surgical Instruments — Summary & Reflection

KEY TAKEAWAYS

ENT surgical instruments by procedure — Nose: FESS (Hopkins rod endoscope 0°/30°/45°/70°, Blakesley forceps, Stammberger punch, microdebrider); septoplasty (Killian speculum, Cottle's elevator, Freer's elevator); nasal bone reduction (Walsham's/Ash's forceps). Ear: tympanoplasty (operating microscope, Hartmann speculum, Rosen needle, Plester sickle knife); mastoidectomy (Mollison self-retaining retractor, Lempert elevator, mastoid drill and burrs); myringotomy (myringotomy knife/Beaver blade — antero-inferior quadrant, grommet inserter). Throat: adenotonsillectomy (Boyle-Davis gag with ET tube channel + Draffin bipod stand, Negus dissector, Mollison clamp, Beckmann adenoid curette); foreign body removal airway (Chevalier Jackson laryngoscope, Hopkins rod, Magill/Barron forceps); foreign body oesophagus (rigid oesophagoscope, Barron forceps); tracheostomy (tracheostomy hook, Trousseau dilator — blunt expansion, 2nd-3rd ring site; tracheostomy tube with outer cannula + inner cannula + cuff).

REFLECT

Visit the ENT instrument trolley or instrument cupboard in your department and handle each instrument physically. The tactile experience of holding a Trousseau dilator and opening it, or picking up a Rosen needle and seeing how small it is relative to your hand, creates a memory anchor that no textbook description can replicate. If physical access is limited, use the published ENT surgical instrument atlases online (most ENT textbooks include photographic plates). For each instrument you encounter: say the name, say the procedure, say the anatomical site, and say the safety point. Physical handling plus verbal articulation consolidates identification into long-term memory far more effectively than passive reading.