med reflections: in the OR

"I don't think I hear anything wrong..."


Today I was in the Operating Room with a visiting urologist, where I got to see a circumcision, a hernia repair with orchidopexy, two prostate resections and a pyelogram. I was fortunate to be able scrub in and assist the surgeon, although I probably was more of a hindrance because I had no clue what I was doing! Definitely a learning experience. I attempted starting the IV on one of the patients twice, but without success. I didn't feel too bad though because the doc couldn't get it on his first 2 tries, then the nurse didn't get it, and finally the doc got it on his 3rd attempt. Pretty tricky stuff sometimes! I also got to do my first "real" intubation, which involves placing the breathing tube down the person's throat to help ventilate the patient, then hooking it up to the machine. That was really cool because I struggled with it the first time I tried it a few days ago. The craziest of all has to be doing my first spinal (injecting an anesthetic into the subarachnoid space to numb the lower body). Of course it was all guided by the anesthetist who was an excellent teacher - but the whole process was somewhat surreal and it happened all so quickly. Won't forget that experience!

I think it's important that I keep track of what I've done and what I've seen, so I can look back at the end of my 4 weeks and say "whoaaa.....I can't believe I saw this...did that". I guess it also helps slow me down to think and reflect on medicine in general and how this process of learning is affecting my life and my thoughts. Anaesthesia is a field that continues to make me wonder if I would enjoy it as a career - I know what my buddy Keith would say! The parts that are most interesting are the start and the end of procedures, and a little inbetween with the maintenance of drugs. But that little inbetween also seems to be somewhat.....um.......to put it politely, less engaging that the rest. And sometimes these surgeries can go on for several hours. don't get me wrong, it's not all just sitting around and waiting. The lifestyle is certainly appealing. I just wonder if I want to commit so much of my study time to be anesthetist, only to find out that I'm getting bored and not very interested. It certainly doesn't make sense if I've switched from another profession where I was feeling exactly that.

The surgical specialties are attractive in the sense that they are the Cowboys of the show. They do the major work, get alot of respect because they "fix" problems, and get to play with cool toys and gadgets. It's been fun assisting surgeries during my time in the OR. But from what I hear, it's not the lifestyle that I want to live. I don't want to be on call all the time or be called in at 3am for surgeries. I don't think I could live a balanced life as a surgeon. Maybe I'm wrong and just speaking to biased people, but this is what consensus has been from a variety of sources. Anyways, just some random med thoughts running thru my head...