longest surgery?

One time I took pity on a surgeon who'd been scrubbed over ten hours and still had a long way to go. I took him in the substerile and held a urinal for him.

My brother recently had a kidney/pancreas transplant that took 13 hrs. On top of that, the same surgeon & team had already flown 300 miles across the state to do the procurement earlier in the day...that team worked on this one case for about 24 hours with maybe an hour break before the transplant surg.

Later that month, two docs spent 6 hours trying to get a central line in him (lots of scar tissue from previous PermaCaths). They let me stay in the room, masked, and watch the whole time, while the Dr. Vascular talked Dr. Resident through each attempt! That was the night I knew for sure I wanted to scrub. I'm starting ST program in the fall!

I work the night shift, so there's no one to relieve me from 11p-7a. We had a fem pop that lasted the entire time. I felt really bad for the patient, he had had bilateral knees done earlier that day, and then ended up with a cold leg. We knew going into the case it would be a long one, just didn't think it would last all night.

Good for you! I have been a CST for 5 years (am on my way to Nursing school though) You should check out www.ast.org , they have lots of info and their own CST forums....good place for ST students.

you people are insane ..... i have a 16 hour surgery (on myself) coming up on the 26 an rplnd , and im scared like hell... now im even more scared if the doc has to go peee..... thanks !

losangeles213, it's normal to be scared about the surgery but don't worry yourself about the surgeon having to use the bathroom as well. Everyone involved in the case will be thinking of your safety and health. If you're anxious because you're unsure about something, make sure to ask questions to the nurse, anesthesiologist, surgeon, or anyone else. I hope you have a quick and safe recovery after your surgery!

14 Hour open radical nephrectomy. This patient threw a clot to the heart half way through and CT had to be called and the chest cracked.

Some of the things mentioned with not having relief or the surgeon being unable to leave (where the pt might be at risk if the dr left for a break) is pretty extreme, emergency, off-hours stuff. I've seen surgeries scheduled for 20+ hrs (I used to work with a reconstructive plastic surgeon when I was in the OR) but there were breaks all around. On a planned surgery, like you're having, things don't get our of hand like an emergency case where the patient is already near death. That means, at a more relaxed pace, there are times when the surgeon can take a break between one part of a procedure and the next. Rarely would a surgeon work alone for a long case, anyway. For a long case there is nearly always at least one resident, PA, or RN first assist involved, if not another full-fledged surgeon. That's someone who will keep things going while the surgeon steps out for a quick snack or trip to the bathroom... not like the surgeon gets to sit down in the breakroom or anything, but a quick break is OK. Likewise, when a case is scheduled for 16 hours, much of it will be occuring while there is available staff to relieve the scrub and circulator. Almost certainly, there will be at least one shift change. In my OR you rarely work in the same room for 8-12 hours, let alone the same case. Sometimes, if we have a 2 RN team, one will circ while one scrubs, then they might switch after lunch... keeps the same people in the room with the patient and Dr they know but keeps them fresh, too. Anesthesia- the one person who legally cannot leave the room at any time- is pretty good about breaks too. In our OR, even at night, they could get relief if a case was long, there were always a few people on call and available- someone had to be in the hospital and not in a case at all times. With a surgery like yours, the OR has given thought to stffing ahead of time! Good luck!

Multi-level spinal fusion revision and extension.
15 hours from roll in to roll out.
I was the patient.

I don't know how y'all do it, scrubbing in for even quick uncomplicated surgeries drove me nuts.

15 hour Fem-Pop..I was there for 12 hours of the case.