ONLINE SUTURE COURSE

Most Advanced Practice Providers receive minimal training in suturing and laceration repair. 

Online Suture Course bridges this gap between training and practice.

Physician Associate / Assistant Accredited

Advanced Practice Nurse / Nurse Practitioner Accredited

Approved for AANP, ANCC, AAPA, BOC-AT

AANP & ANCC

physician assistant category 1 cme
board of certification athletic trainers approved provider

online suture courseThe Core Course

The Online Suture Course (20 Contact Hours, 10 Pharmacology Hours) is an online, asynchronous laceration and wound repair course with 20 total AAPA and ANCC contact hours, including 10 ANCC pharmacology hours (ANCC contact hours are accepted by the AANP).

Course participants receive training in 11 closure methods through 34 modules and 10 case studies, covering 3 anesthesia methods as well as the A.C.E. F.A.S.T. Closure Method™.

The course is available by itself, or bundled with some extras.  All course bundles include downloadable MP3 and MP4 course audio and video, as well as a digital course workbook.

REVIEWS

With an average rating of 4.3 / 5 as reported by over 3,200 course participants, OSC is a proven source for high-yield continuing medical education.

“Patton’s teaching style is alert, positive, and to the point.  I’m looking forward to the other courses he comes up with.”

Nora Vince, NP-C

“Really great course.”

Wes Smith, FNP-BC

“I’m an ED doc for 21 years now. I did not expect this course to teach me anything. I was wrong. Maybe that says something about me … maybe it says something about the course. I recommend it.”

J. D. C.

“Finally, a suture course worth the effort, money, time, all of it. I will be reviewing my notes from this course daily, as I practice in an emergency department and close a lot of lacerations.”

Bill Crandall, FNP

“School rotations included some surgical technique and I remembered some of it. What I learned from this course has improved my practice, and I’m grateful.”

John Birch, PA-C

“Everything I never knew I needed to know. Wow!”

Melany Thomas, NP

“I loved every minute of this course. Patton is extremely easy to follow, he has passion – I wish he taught other procedures. I will tell everybody about this course!”

Cindy McCall, MSN, RN, FNP-BC

“We will recommend this course to our next round of students. Totally gets it right. Well put together and the value was completely there. Evidence based practice through-and-through.”

Carson Smith-Weathers, ENP, MHA

Choose How You Want to Take the Course

COURSE OPTIONS

OSC CORE AND NOMAD

OSC Core (20 Contact Hours, 10 Pharmacology Hours) is the backbone of our suturing course.  It is the course in its entirety in an online, asynchronous format.  OSC Core offers 20 total AAPA and ANCC contact hours, including 10 ANCC pharmacology hours.  ANCC contact hours are accepted by the AANP.  With OSC Core, course participants receive training in 11 closure methods through 34 modules and 10 case studies, covering 3 anesthesia methods as well as the A.C.E. F.A.S.T. Closure Method™.  All course versions include downloadable MP3 and MP4 course audio and video, as well as a digital course workbook.

OSC NOMAD contains OSC Core and also puts all of the course content on a USB drive, useful for internet-challenging geographic areas, travel, or simply as a personal copy of the content.

For either Core or NOMAD, the word Deluxe indicates that it comes with a practice kit for learning suturing techniques.  This kit includes various size sutures, a laceration tray, a skin stapler and staple remover, and a kit box.  The kit does not contain any practice medium due to our belief that skin-on chicken thighs, bananas, or pig feet offer a much better human skin analogue than ballistic gel and other inorganic mediums.

OSC | Core Course

  • Online course access without expiration
  • Open access to the course instructor
  • AANP accredited CME
  • ANCC accredited CEU
  • AAPA Category 1 accredited CE
  • BOC-AT accredited CE
Purchase Course

OSC | Core Course + Practice Kit

  • Online course access without expiration
  • Deluxe practice kit with sutures, skin stapler, staple remover, laceration tray
  • Open access to the course instructor
  • AANP accredited CME
  • ANCC accredited CEU
  • AAPA Category 1 accredited CE
  • BOC-AT accredited CE
Purchase Course

OSC | Core Course + USB

  • Online course access without expiration
  • Course content on USB for offline access
  • Open access to the course instructor
  • AANP accredited CME
  • ANCC accredited CEU
  • AAPA Category 1 accredited CE
  • BOC-AT accredited CE
Purchase Course

OSC | Core Course + Practice Kit + USB

  • Online course access without expiration
  • Deluxe practice kit with sutures, skin stapler, staple remover, laceration tray
  • Course content on USB for offline access
  • Open access to the course instructor
  • AANP accredited CME
  • ANCC accredited CEU
  • AAPA Category 1 accredited CE
  • BOC-AT accredited CE
Purchase Course

11 Closure Methods

You will learn the proper way to perform the following closure techniques:

Steri-Strips
Skin Adhesive
Skin Stapling
Simple Interrupted
Simple Continuous
Horizontal Mattress
Vertical Mattress
Interrupted Cruciate
Corner Stitch
Running Locking
Dog Ear Deformity Correction
Multi-Layer Closure

10 Exciting Case Studies

Anti-coagulated geriatric versus rusty attic nail
Histrionic 4-year old chin versus floor
Hunter versus his own finger
Dizzied middle-age ear versus night-stand
Heavy-weight walker’s knee versus the track
Inebriated toe versus some rocks
Strapping lad’s lower leg versus the farm
Pediatric scalp versus coffee table
Middle-aged scalp (and c-spine) versus the dangers of living by yourself in middle age
Living room dancer’s buttocks versus (again) coffee table

3 Anesthesia Approaches

Local Infiltration
Digital Block
Field Block

ENP Credit Hours

This course provides 20 of 30 contact hours required by the AAENP under Option 1 for the ENP certification exam.

A.C.E. F.A.S.T. Closure Method

Learn to ace your closures every time through the A.C.E. F.A.S.T. Closure Method.  This method, developed by OSC creator Patton Graham, will improve your throughput times, bolster your medicolegal defensibility, enhance your charting, and fortify your patient outcomes.

34 Learning Modules

  • When and When Not to Close
  • The A.C.E. F.A.S.T. Closure® Method
  • Proper Anesthesia Delivery
  • Proper Wound Cleansing
  • Proper Wound Examination
  • Foreign Body Removal
  • Antibiotic Appropriateness
  • When to Seek Surgical Consultation
  • Current Tetanus Guidelines
  • Closure Basics Including Line and Needle Selection
  • Proper Knot Tying
  • Left-handed suturing
  • Repair of Torso Lacerations
  • Repair of Extremity Lacerations
  • Repair of Head and Neck Lacerations
  • Repair of Scalp Lacerations
  • Repair of Eyelid Lacerations
  • Repair of Ear Lacerations
  • Repair of Lip Lacerations
  • Repair of Nailbed Lacerations
  • Repair of Flap Lacerations
  • Repair of Buccal Lacerations
  • Repair of Tongue Lacerations
  • Repair of Joint Capsule Lacerations
  • Nail Trephination
  • Dog Ear Deformity Correction
  • Undermining
  • Multi-layer Suturing
  • SPECIAL TOPIC: Treatment of Animal Bites
  • SPECIAL TOPIC: Treatment of Open Fractures
  • SPECIAL TOPIC: Pediatric Lacerations
  • SPECIAL TOPIC: Lacerations in the Anticoagulated Patient
  • SPECIAL TOPIC: Managing Poorly Healing Lacerations
  • SPECIAL TOPIC: C-spine Management and Imaging Related to Traumatic Head and Neck Lacerations
  • BONUS: Appropriate Follow-up Care
  • BONUS: Medicolegal Tips and Nuggets

Learn multiple techniques for simple and complex closures

  • Steri-strips
  • Skin Adhesive
  • Staples
  • Simple Interrupted
  • Simple Continuous
  • Horizontal Mattress
  • Vertical Mattress
  • Interrupted Cruciate
  • Corner Stitch
  • Running Locking
  • Dog Ear Deformity Correction
  • Multi-layer Closure
dreamstime_m_105522257

Discussion of Medicolegal Implications and Pitfalls

  • Defensive charting tips
  • What to verbalize to your patients (or their parents)
  • Essential discharge instructions
  • Avoiding common pitfalls that could result in lawsuit
  • Discussion of the most important way to avoid being sued
dreamstime_l_114345026

An Entire Module on Pediatric Lacerations

  • Dealing with kids and their parents
  • Building rapport with your pediatric patient
  • Pediatric analgesia tips
  • Pediatric moderate sedation procedures
  • Pediatric case studies
lidocaine

Extensive Anesthesia and Pharmacology Discussion

  • Local infiltration
  • Digital blocks
  • Field blocks
  • Moderate sedation 
  • Amide family (the “caines”) anesthetics

More Reasons to Buy the Course

Regardless of your level of experience with wound closure and care, OSC will enhance your skill set in the areas of suturing, stapling, gluing, and managing simple to complex lacerations.  You will learn when to seek surgical consultation, how to deal with animal bites, when not to close a wound, and much more.

Online access makes learning and earning much easier.  OSC is a fully online, asynchronous suture training course.  This puts you in the driver’s seat for deciding when and where to enrich your practice.  It also puts the captain’s hat squarely on your brow for deciding at what pace you earn CME credit.

High-definition video makes learning very real-to-life.  Using state-of-the-art, high-definition video technology, OSC brings you right to the heart of the wound and guides you through repairs every step of the way.  You will learn, with crystal clarity, how to repair lacerations using simple interrupted, interrupted cruciate, running-locking, vertical mattress, and many more techniques.  You will learn how to tie knots correctly.  You will learn essentially everything there is to know about wound repair.

Accredited CE.  The OSC Suture Training Course is approved for 20 contact hour(s) of continuing education by the American Academy of Physician Assistants.  The American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the American Nurses Credentialing Association both accept AAPA CME credit hours.

Learn from an experienced family and emergency nurse practitioner.  With years of experience as an emergency department provider, as well as collegiate level teaching experience, Patton is able to quickly explain, demonstrate, and prepare you to emulate simple and complex techniques, as well as fully enhance your current level of practice and understanding.  He’s also a real person and makes learning fun.

Not a bare-bones essentials course.  OSC will bring you to the front of your field in suture repair.  OSC is a head-to-toe suture training course and will fully enhance your practice of wound closure.

Your charting will never be the same.  OSC is full of high-yield MEDICOLEGAL NUGGETS and advises you on what to chart, and when to chart it.  Your clinical documentation will improve.  Your patient outcomes will improve.  And, your foundation for medicolegal defense will be enhanced.

Learn suturing through the A.C.E. F.A.S.T. Closure® method.  Developed by Patton Graham, NP-C, the A.C.E. F.A.S.T. Closure® method will help you ace your closures every time.  This method-approach to wound closure will surprise you at how easy it is to both remember and implement.