The Not-So-Golden Olden Days
A look back at a simpler — but not necessarily better — time in the OR.
T
hose of us on the wrong side of 50
sometimes long for the good ol' days
of surgery, when we charted by hand
and wore scrub dresses. It was a simpler
time in the OR, but were the good ol' days
necessarily better? Well, they were if you
miss …
• Staple guns. The only thing disposable
about these all-metal contraptions were the staples. We'd take them
apart and clean them in the substerile room in a sink with hot water
and a brush, then put them back together and autoclave them. When
the surgeon asked for the gun, you prayed to the OR gods that it
would fire. More often than not, the gun malfunctioned and would lie
in pieces on the operative field. Then came an explosion of profanity
that could be heard clear to the waiting room and hemostats flying
past your ear, putting another chip into the tile wall.
• Flying instruments. Now that I opened up that can of worms,
might as well go ahead and address it. Surgeons threw instruments
(unless they were their own personal set, color-coded and taped or
engraved with his name). It was a fact of life in the OR. Circulators
should have been given football helmets. Once I wore a metal colander
(after the surgeons got to know me).
• Glass suction containers. Remember Gomco glass collection bot-
tles with the big black rubber stoppers? The circulator or scrub nurse
emptied the Gomco in a hopper, cleaned it out, dried it and put it out
for the next patient. Occasionally, clumsy nurses like me dropped
them.
• Smoking. Everyone in medicine seemed to smoke back then. The
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Behind Closed Doors
Paula Watkins, RN, CNOR
