Something funny I learned about anatomy

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This happened about 2 weeks ago. I was observing a complicated operation, which involved going through the abdomen, navigating around intestines, to get to a lower organ. The intestines were manipulated carefully, but extensively (in my opinion). I asked the circulating nurse (whom I was shadowing), if afterwards, the surgeon would have a hard time putting the intestines back in order. You know - to resemble all the A&P pictures of intestines in textbooks. She said, No. Intestines don't look like that - they are like a bowl of spaghetti. I asked how they keep from tangling up, and how patients don't get constipated, and she said peristalsis does a good job keeping everything moving. Until that moment, I thought intestines were neatly laid out, just like all the pics I had seen. I really thought that they would have to be set back in place - like untangling headphone cords, or something. Duh! Well I learned something new!:snurse:

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I thought the same thing at one time. :o

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

No one who comes into surgery will ever leave put back together the way they were. Did you know that in heart surgery, closing the pericardium is a surgeon preference? None of the surgeons I work with will actually close it- it's just left open. Ribs that have a portion removed for thoracic surgery exposure? Yeah, they go to pathology and aren't put back together.

Oh, is anyone else up for spaghetti with meatballs for dinner? If you're not, you haven't spent enough time in the OR yet! :lol2:

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