Review of community-referred hand infections.

Purpose: A retrospective review is presented of 76 patients with infections of the hand, referred from the community and admitted to our plastic surgery unit for treatment over a 30 month period.

Methods: Retrospective chart review and review of the pertinent English-language literature.

Results: The majority of the patients (82%) were male.

Validation of microsurgical models in microsurgery training and competence: a review.

Microsurgery has expanded the scope of many surgical specialties and is evolving into an integral part of training programmes. The complexity of microsurgery requires considerable time and resources for adequate training and practice. This article reviews the validation of microsurgical models for microsurgery training and competence.