CareerChg

NurseRoRo: Thanks for the tip - I have ordered some text books and video TracyB: I got Alexandar already :-) Thanks for you kind thoughts and prayers. She had DCIS with immediate DIEP reconstruction. Path came back with all good news. Now we are in the multiple surgery stage to get the cosmetics right. It will end up being over a year! Any thoughts you have on prep & drape? At this point I have a pretty good idea, but any details are always helpful. Thanks

I'm fairly new to this site and this is my first post, but was drawn to it when my wife recently had cancer surgery. (She is currently cancer free!) I became very interested in all things having to do with her care. It actually started me thinking that I want to make a career change and maybe go into OR nursing in some way, maybe a surg tech to start. When I got to the point of asking medical providers about OR procedures and how my wife was prepped and draped, I ran into the "dear in headlights stare" by almost everyone I've asked whose associated with her surgery (circulars, CNRA, anesthesiologists, including her doc). The answers I got was anywhere from a blank stare, non-answers, to her doc who did give me an answer after some persistence. After a while, it became quite amusing to see the reactions. She so far has had 3 surgeries, so I've had a chance to ask many people at this point. At a baby naming for my niece's kid, I happened to speak with an audiologist that is in the OR all the time working with the OR teams to monitor nerves during surgery. He was the only one that ever actually said straight out: "Yeah, leave your modesty at the door. Almost all of our patients are naked at some point in the OR. But it is just a part of the job." I would love to get some feedback that sheds light as to why there is this almost universal "cone of silence" about something that is necessary for the care and safety of the pt? Why not just answer any questions matter-of-factly? At least for me, knowing was better than being given a non-answer. Thanks Career Chg