Shoe Suggestions and Earpiece Thoughts.....

[miloisstinky]

What do you guys consider the best shoes, our instructor says "absolutely no sitting AT ALL"....which is understandable, but painful after the 4th-5th-6th hour. Any suggestions on clogs or a certain shoe type or brand that you find gives the best support. My nike's are not working for me anymore!!

Also, we HAVE to wear our earpieces. Annoying at times, but I see the point. Do any of you use your earpiece, what do you think of earpieces? We had ours made by a drug rep for free, but i've heard the more expensive ones are better.

Thanks guys, TONS OF RESPECT to you all, cause SKOOL IS HARD RIGHT NOW!! :crying2:

[miloisstinky]

I did not expect my questions to grow into such a large diverse discussion, and yes, well said, we ALL wear shoes. But, to clarify, my "older" director SWEARS by the earpiece. She says she can hear an internal change before the monitor picks it up. OK, kinda hard to believe, but back to my question, do any of you SWEAR by your earpiece? Can you hear changes in breath/circulatory sounds that would indicate a potential complication? I have to acclimate myself to it per the director, but is this something anyone out there faithfully uses, i was thinking of doing some type of research on this. In third world countries, they do not even have monitors, so they use earpiece-like devices!!!......

By the way, THANKS SO MUCH for the shoe advice, i've got several orders on the way....courtesy of student loans of course!!

[Athlein1]

OK, kinda hard to believe, but back to my question, do any of you SWEAR by your earpiece? Can you hear changes in breath/circulatory sounds that would indicate a potential complication?

Um, no. At least not in the ortho room. The music is far too loud! :chuckle

I know that some avowed precordial users believe this, but at this stage of my training, it's all I can do to watch the surgery, monitor the patient with my eyes and touch, monitor the VS and respiratory information from the vent, and stay abreast of the communication in the room.

If I am attuned to the surgery and vigilantly watching the patient and the data, I can "see" increases in tidal volume and heart rate just as they can perhaps "hear" them.

I had a lengthy discussion about this with a couple of old-school providers and a couple of new kids (they call us new kids because we have never known anesthesia life without propofol, and one of them had actually used ether!), and we decided that the approach you take is a personal choice likely based upon how you were trained and what equipment you had to use. Although, it was also decided that the "new kids" who are so reliant on technology seem less connected to their patients. It's all about data, numbers, and such, whereas the old timers still check pupils, listen via precordial, and touch the forehead to assess their patients. Perhaps vigilance is the most important thing of them all, regardless of the methods that you employ.

Just something to think about...