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found. There is a CRNA hollering at me, however: "Go get the patient, I'm
ready to go." Good luck beginning the case with nothing set up, Mr. Fire-
Under-the-Butt. I wonder if he'd mind running for the supplies when the sur-
geon gets here, or maybe doing some of my circulating and charting while
I'm out pulling the case.
• A scavenger hunt. I start hitting storage rooms for missing equipment and
asking for help along the way. I succeed in finding maybe half of what I need,
but I don't have any of the medications listed on the preference sheet. Most of
the supplies I'm pulling are not where they should be. I'm imagining the staff
on other shifts whiling away the hours throwing supplies into random bins on
random shelves for fun. I return to the OR with my arms full and am greeted
at the door by a CRNA who's raring to go and a patient on a stretcher. "While I
was waiting, I thought I'd go ahead and bring him here," the CRNA says, "so
you could do whatever it is you do with patients."
• More cloth tape. We roll the patient into the room, transfer him to the table
and connect the monitors. Now, where is that blasted safety belt? I grab the
3-inch cloth tape and do a duct-tape job around the patient and table. I'll
find the Velcro straps in just a second.
• Assorted bumps and bruises. Watch your head! Too late. Are your fingers
clear? Unfortunately, no. Don't trip on that cord. I won't, I saw it from the floor
where I landed. The equipment we use to treat patients sure does a number on
us providers.
• Multitasking. Before this case is over, I will have done 3 cultures with
orders, 3 specimens and 4 meds out of the med select. I will have charted
almost the entire case and run for all the items that no one pulled. At the
same time, I've made a list of all the co-workers I want to hog-tie and hoist
up. No time for that now, though: The desk is paging me about a case in OR
5. Keeping busy makes time fly. I could work an hour past end-of-shift with-
out even knowing it.
OSM
Ms. Watkins can be reached at pwatkins12@comcast.net.
