Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Compounding Disaster - July 2016 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/703764

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 135 of 168

1 3 6 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U L Y 2 0 1 6 Stressed Surgeons Gone Bad When cases go south, do your docs go down the rabbit hole with them? E very surgeon and scrub nurse has been there. A seemingly straight- forward case commences smooth- ly, only to turn into a hellish nightmare in seconds: the stubborn bleeder, the rotator cuff tear the size of Brooklyn or the two- part fracture that becomes the four-part fracture after failed reduction attempts. In times of surgical strife, surgeons may morph into one of several dysfunctional patterns: • Blame game. Many surgeons have the blame game as their default option when under duress. The bleeder is everybody else's fault: the nurse for not picking the appropriate instruments, anesthesia for not keeping the BP down or yours for not telling the patient to stop aspirin. Emotions are contagious, and a few nega- tive accusations can drag the entire OR culture into a large abyss. • Panic attack. Some surgeons morph into panic mode and enter into a convulsive state of hurried and some- times illogical motions, feeling that if they move fast enough, the solu- tion will somehow appear. But hurried and uncalculated motions invariably exacerbate the problem. The 6-inch incision is now double the size with no bleeder in sight. The humerus resembles popcorn after the desperate strong-arm attempt to reduce the fracture. Cutting Remarks John D. Kelly IV, MD Ironically, some of the most brilliant and gifted who wield a knife also often carry the most psychological baggage.

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Compounding Disaster - July 2016 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine