surgeons!

Tenesma · Nov 26, 2002

unfortunately as an SRNA you don't carry enough weight to talk back... usually because everybody else around you will have more than enough knowledge to smack you down... sorry about that... but once you become a CRNA you can definitely stand your ground.

over time, i have collected witty answers for a whole bunch of situations... plus i stay well-read and fully updated on as much as possible... that combination of knowledge and sarcastic wit: the surgeons usually shut up after that.... the problem is that in the US (which is very different to the rest of the world - where surgeons have a lower prestige level) surgeons are used to mistreating their residents/fellows and think they can spread their bad humors on the rest of the OR staff... it is absolutely inappropriate, and you should definitely start setting boundaries....

then again, you may also want to use this as a learning opportunity (since after all you are a "student"RNA)... why was the systolic pressure creeping up? was there a tourniquet on too long? has the patient received enough narcotics to blunt the sympathetic response? is your phenylephrine drip open by mistake?

just for your own knowledge... i usually have the monitors turned towards me so that the surgeons can't peep over... they should focus on cutting/sowing while i keep the patient alive :)

by the way, picking fights in any work environment is unhealthy - and most of the time when surgeons freak out a bit it is because they are getting into trouble (that is when i usually ask for blood products to be brought into the room)...

chartleypj · Nov 26, 2002

> was kinda confrontational after she kept ragging on the whole frikken day bout how i "let" the BP creep up to 170 systolic causing the patient to bleed out of control. >

Scurvy,

Tension seems to run high in many OR's, particularly if the patient is decompensating for ANY reason. There's a difference between dealing with an anesthetic issue at he time it occurs and 'ragging on the anesthesia care provider all frikken day'. If she was actually harrassing you perhaps your anesthesiologists need to know this.

After nearly 26 years of OR nursing I find many surgeon's piss me off; I've learned many things. First and foremost while I may not respond at that moment, I confront inappropriate behavior at the earliest possible moment after the case. If an apology is necessary on my part, I offer it, and tell Dr. So & So that his behavoir was rude, unprofessional and inappropriate. The surgeon's I've interracted with have readily apologised for being ***holes.

I also ask myself "What could I have done differently in this situation?"

I would also suggest you stop thinking of yourself as being at the bottom of the totum pole; you are an integrel part of an OR team.

Good luck,

Paula