A Tech Made Me So Angry, I was ready to choke the tech (rant)

[Marie_LPN, RN]

I was scheduled to be the first assist in a general room today, a whole 8 hours of hernia repairs, which made for a good friday, since that surgeon's very fun to work with, and it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. A surg tech was assigned in the room as well.

It was up to her to set up the table and tray, since she would be the one working off of it (she sets it up according to our facility's 'preferred' set-up). And after the second case, i said "I'll open and set up if you want a break, and then all you'll have to do is count and run the table" and i scrubbed and set up the table and tray the way she normally does it.

Well it took all of 5 minutes to set up everything, and by then the pt. was brough in, given anesthesia, and the surgeon comes in, signs papers, goes out, scrubs, comes in and i assist him into gown and gloves. The tech followed him in after she scrubbed and i assisted her with gown and gloved. The circulator prepped, surgeon placed the sticky towels and i handed the surgeon the big drape (he perferred to place it himself).

The circulator set a standing platform the opposite side of the surgeon, which was PUT THERE for ME, yet this tech took it upon herself to stand up on that platform right across from Dr. M______ like SHE was going to assist!!!:angryfire I said "I need some space between you and the armboard, please, in order for me to assist Dr. M____". She said "I think it's my turn, since you're ALWAYS first on these cases". I said, "I'm scheduled as the first assist, you haven't been given the permission by your preceptor or any training to be the first, so please scoot over, since Dr. M_____ is ready to begin". She stepped down. She developed somewhat of an attitude during that case, i noticed. When i would asked for a retractor ("please?"), she slapped it in my hand so hard that it stung a few times. And a few times, when i would ask for a 'snap' (small Kelly clamp), i had to ask 3 times before she would finally slap one to my hand, yet if Dr. M asked for something, she handed it to him the proper way.

I didn't give her the satisfaction of knowing she ticked me off with that stunt, yet, when i went for my 'break', i took my break in the supervisor's office, explaining the situation. The circulator vouched for me, since she witnessed the whole thing. It was easy to figure out when the supervisor spoke with the tech, because the tech literally stuck her nose in the air when she would walk by me.

Majority of the techs at work are great, but still, it really ticked me off that someone would do that, and i have no idea what posesses people sometimes into think that they can do whatever they want to do.:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

[rn/writer, RN]

Maybe it would be a good idea to delete the old post, due to the negative response one is getting for reading it and posting on it! How would anyone know who is still active and who isn't? There are so many threads to read, I certainally don't have any way to keep up with who is on first and who is on second!

BYE

My message was meant to be informational, not critical. I was trying to let people know that there might not be any response to their posts because a good number of those who were involved in the discussion aren't around any more to participate. You wouldn't have any idea about who's active and who isn't. That's why I was trying to give you that information.

When this board was reformatted, a new feature was added that brought up posts on similar subjects. The posts come up based on key words. The computer has no idea that a thread might be from years and years ago. We've had suggestions that there be some type of filter to keep things more current, and that idea is being checked out. In the meantime, we try to keep an eye on things and point out the age of the thread when appropriate. There have been several thread resurrections where posters became concerned over serious situations that they thought were happening now.

At any rate, there was no negativity intended on my part. Only trying to let you know why there might not be much activity in response to your post.

Hope this explanation helps.

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

OT: Activity on a thread doesn't always include recently typed responses.

If someone feels the need or desire to close or delete this thread, i'm sure it will be.