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O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U LY 2 0 1 5
Were You Raised by an OR Nurse?
You can always tell when there's a nurse in the family.
M
y daughter is all grown up and working as a health-
care professional now, but I can still remember
when, during my time in management, she'd sit in
my office to do her homework while I tried to catch up on
paperwork. Or how we'd pepper our conversations with
medical terminology. Or the time I took a video of a proce-
dure home and she watched it with me. I recently asked her
if she'd ever felt slighted by this dizzy work-life balance. She
said, "No, I thought that was the way everyone lived."
You and I know, of course, that's not the way everyone lives.
But if there's any doubt in your minds, here are a few telltale
signs that you, too, were raised by an OR nurse.
• Your mom (or dad) got to wear their pajamas to work
every single day. Coolest job ever! And they had so many extra pairs
in their drawers and closet that some of them eventually found their way
into yours.
• Those white kitchen dish towels with blue strings attached to them.
• If, while playing outside, you fell and yelled for your mom, she'd yell
back, "Are you bleeding?" (No.) "Can you breathe?" (Yes.) "Can you move
your arm / leg / hand / foot?" (Yes.) "Then walk it off, you're fine."
• When you told her you had a stomachache, the first thing she'd ask
was, "Have you pooped?" — even in front of other people — while she felt
your forehead.
• You think iodoform smells way better than any air freshener or candle. The
scent reminds you of home.
• When your friends came over, your mom asked if they were allergic to
anything before she served them any food.
• At Thanksgiving, your mom set up the dining table like a back table.
B E H I N D C L O S E D D O O R S
Paula Watkins, RN, CNOR
