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markneil

markneil

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greetings,

im an incoming med student and have been pretty fascinated with surgery (esp ENT). i have two stupid questions concerning surgery in general.

1. i have a fear of someone just driving that needle in my finger (accidentally) or being cut. is this a fear that i should obliterate from my mind...does it happen often?

2. i'm 5'8''...do i need to stand on one of those stools? i just hate the idea. i'm totally comfortable with my height, but the stool is just crossing the line...

again, two stupid inquiries...
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As the demotivator says, "There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots."

First, needle sticks happen. Doesn't matter where in medicine you are. Obviously there is higher risk in surgery than in radiology, but the potential is there. In ENT, I can say from experience that the most likely place to get stuck is when wiring some drunk's mandible in the middle of the night. Those wires suck. Just know that if you double-glove the risk is enormously low.

Second, if you draw the line with a step (not called a stool) then you aren't comfortable with your height. Get over it. The rule in the OR is that the table is adjusted to accommodate the tallest, not the shortest, person involved in the surgery (meaning usually not counting the scrub tech). I am reasonably tall at 6'2" and I can tell you for a fact that the biggest jackass in the OR is the attending who is too much of a jerk to stand on a step and raise the table so that I have to bend over at the waist and be sore for 3 hours after a long case. I had an attending who was 5'2" and was a total stud. He had to have 2 steps to operate with me, but he was great about it. We'd even joke about it, but he was such cool guy and a good teacher, he didn't care and it made me respect him exponentially more.

Get on the step or don't come in the OR.
 
I have stuck myself at least 2-3 times and it will happen many more. Get used to it. If you are scared, double glove.

Also had an attending (mine was like 5'6" though) who used a step on every case. Steps in the OR is a fact of life for shorter people.
 
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TheThroat said:
Steps in the OR is a fact of life for shorter people.
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And now on to look at non-surgical specialties to keep my self-esteem intact...:p
 
My chief got stuck by an attending with an 11 blade. The pt was HIV+ too. You wouldn't believe the series of epithets that proceeded from my chief's mouth. The attending was not well respected and was of the slasher variety being older and less refined in technique. He was fond of saying that "Whether you cut fast or slow, it's still going to bleed. Cut faster, docky." He called all the residents "docky" --another reason he was not well-liked. Despite the gravity of the injury (he ended up being fine in the end) seeing a chief ream out an attending that way was priceless.
 
resxn said:
My chief got stuck by an attending with an 11 blade. The pt was HIV+ too. You wouldn't believe the series of epithets that proceeded from my chief's mouth. The attending was not well respected and was of the slasher variety being older and less refined in technique. He was fond of saying that "Whether you cut fast or slow, it's still going to bleed. Cut faster, docky." He called all the residents "docky" --another reason he was not well-liked. Despite the gravity of the injury (he ended up being fine in the end) seeing a chief ream out an attending that way was priceless.
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The mental image I have is priceless.
 
resxn said:
My chief got stuck by an attending with an 11 blade. The pt was HIV+ too. You wouldn't believe the series of epithets that proceeded from my chief's mouth. The attending was not well respected and was of the slasher variety being older and less refined in technique. He was fond of saying that "Whether you cut fast or slow, it's still going to bleed. Cut faster, docky." He called all the residents "docky" --another reason he was not well-liked. Despite the gravity of the injury (he ended up being fine in the end) seeing a chief ream out an attending that way was priceless.
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thanks for the feedback. i was reading another thread in the orthopod section about a bunch of residents having to take the HIV med after being stuck/cut/mutilated. i don't really care much about the step; i just feel like most of the time im in the ER with all those firefighters/cops i feel like i'm the shortest one. i play alot of basketball with 98.5676% of the guys being taller than me but trying to assess the patient is a whole different story.
 
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