I ♥ nurses!

If we didn't laugh at ourselves, we'd die. *this is scarily accurate :)

No seriously i do. My mommy is a nurse, and a fabulous, incredibly intelligent one at that. Nurses are by far some of the hardest working people in a hospital. They spend more time with patients than physicians do, and they log a lot more hours with patient families as well. They have that nurse/mom/dad/spidey sense that tells them something just isn't right, and it usually isn't. So don't get me wrong--I ♥ nurses.

From day one, all we hear from every resident, every attending, is "Be nice to the nurses, they can make or break you. They are very valuable." So we as lowly little useless med students, spend countless hours, and lots of energy trying to please all the nurses around us. We try not to get in the way of them doing their job. We worry if we interrupt their patient duties, or charting, or prep, and we try to follow protocol to the T so we don't make them mad. So much energy goes into this every day. It sounds like an exaggeration but truly, I can't explain it's full effect.

Today's daily gripe....
For those of you who are not aware of what "scrubbing in" is, here's how it works.

1. Secure mask, and goggles and begin scrubbing your fingers and forearms. *Advice from residents...ALWAYS be the last to finish. If the attending is still scrubbing, then you keep scrubbing till your little hands are raw. Attending leaves, resident still scrubbing....guess what?..you are STILL scrubbing.

2. You finally finish, you butt the door to enter the OR, and keep your hands in a "strike zone", careful not to touch anything. You do NOT walk in front of any attending or resident who is getting their sterile gown and gloves put on.

3. You towel off your hands/arms starting at finger tips, moving down to the elbow, grab bottom of towel and switch sides. You drop the towel on the floor (or designated spot) and then the scrub nurse helps you put on your gown. A circulating nurse ties up the back of your gown and fastens the snaps while the scrub nurse helps you put on sterile gloves.

4. The dance: You grab ties in the front of your gown and yank off one side of a cardboard tag which you hand to a circulating nurse as you spin around to grab the other end....ie you have both ends of your gown to tie like a robe without touching anything not sterile like your backside.
5. Done. Wait for attending to tell you where he wants you to stand next to the operating table.

Now you're caught up to speed :) Maybe you should scrub in for me. I'm sure you'd do a much better job and receive a few less eye rolls, "humphs", or "well....she's already messed it up so just tie it".

GrrrrRRRrrr. *evil eye* bite your tongue. (thinks) ....it's ok. it's not your fault she's an unhappy person. Crazy. I'm sorry. I keep whining, but i can't do it at the hospital so you get to listen to it on here. Well, i guess you could stop reading if it bothered you that much. Wow. Great idea, i wish i had a magic button inside my face mask that i could push with my tongue to put people on mute every time they choose to have a power trip kind of day.

my favorite comment today......"*sigh* you can just use the avaguard* next time"
(avaguard*= equivalent to hand sanitizer, slightly stronger, but used to scrub in very quickly for emergency procedures, or not so sterile procedures. It's not nearly as adequate as using the proper scrub soap especially when diving into an open abdomen.)

Translation......"I'm to lazy to hand you a towel to dry off, or to stand here and gown 2 attendings and YOU."

This would be right before the comment......"here's the scissors, you're up, you're gonna have to do something besides stand there and look pretty." ......wow. awww she called me pretty.

NOTE: I DO NOT assume that i'll be cutting anything, in any open abdomen, until told to do so by an attending. Bottom line. (so shut it lady)

I realize they have WAY more experience in the OR than i do. But, come on, I'm working on year TWENTY of my education. My spelling skills may be lacking, but I ain't as dumb as I look. Don't talk at me, teach me. I promise i won't do it wrong again.

I know its going to keep happening and eventually i'll just tune it out. But, for now....i'll just continue to chuck hemostats and retractors at their heads.
In my mind.

*I promise the next post will be a happier, less whiny me :)