What's the most amazing thing you've seen in the OR?

Published

As a student, I had to work in the OR(well, we call it OT where I'm from).

I worked as a scrub nurse that day. The patient was having a penile cancer removed. I was fine at first, but after I saw that the entire member and scrotum had to be removed, I'd started to loose my nerve :bluecry1:.

The doctors noticed that I was starting to sweat, so they tried to talk me through it, (and being that they were males) and joked abit saying 'Hey, if WE can get through it, YOU, will have to too'.

After that it was not so bad. I just tried my best to relax and concentrated on passing the right instruments and not on the guy loosing his package!( Hey I was mortified!!) :chair:

I've never seen anything like that in my LIFE!!!

SO....... go ahead and share your OR story, what have you seen that amazed you?!!

Specializes in geriatrics & pediatrics.
As a student, I had to work in the OR(well, we call it OT where I'm from).

I worked as a scrub nurse that day. The patient was having a penile cancer removed. I was fine at first, but after I saw that the entire member and scrotum had to be removed, I'd started to loose my nerve :bluecry1:.

The doctors noticed that I was starting to sweat, so they tried to talk me through it, (and being that they were males) and joked abit saying 'Hey, if WE can get through it, YOU, will have to too'.

After that it was not so bad. I just tried my best to relax and concentrated on passing the right instruments and not on the guy loosing his package!( Hey I was mortified!!) :chair:

I've never seen anything like that in my LIFE!!!

SO....... go ahead and share your OR story, what have you seen that amazed you?!!

- This reminds me of when I was a nurses aid - I was not in the OR but did take care of a 15 yr old boy that had lost his member and his hand when a firecracker went off in his hand as he was holding it down by his groin. :o poor kid - . I was only about 20 at the time myself.
Specializes in geriatrics & pediatrics.

Once in the OR the nurse anesthesist was trying to intubate a young woman with down syndrome , they were going to do a tubal ligation, anyway, he couldn't get the tube down , he was so rough and angry and cursing about it and kept trying over and over - it was horrible - what a jerk - if I ever have to be a patient in that hospital - if i am able - i will request that guy not be my nurse! :angryfire

One of the best experience's I have had in the OR, is when we had a mother in preterm labor at 25 weeks. The mother was bleeding excessively. She had placenta displasia. So we were working trying to save the mother and the child. He came out not breathing and the doctor taped his rear end lightly and he let out this small cry. I cried! It was wonderful feeling to see him fighting for his life and suceeding. The mother and the baby made it out fine.:w00t:

Then there was the time a construction worker had a chainsaw backfire on him. Cutting him from the right side of his face jumping to his neck and down the entire right side of his chest to his waist. He was bleeding all over the place and trying to stay woke. I had blood all over me. But it was not on my mind. He kept telling me not to let him die. I tried to reassure him and talk to him and get him to responded to me. He had nicked his aorta and it was a very long surgery. But he made it through. That was when I knew I wanted to be a nurse.:yeah:

Most amazing good-Heart Transplant. After sewing all the veins and arteries, the surgeon gave the heart a slight thumb and wala!

Most amazing "not so good"-Blatant disregard for sterile techinque, sponge, needle, instrument counts, etc. "Dating" at the OR table. Non-emergent surgery without consent with surgeon knowing ahead of time and still refusing to follow-up.

I was working in an OR in Texas. I was scrubbed, the circ. was a new grad. in training for the OR. I don't even remember what the case was anymore, but she had to insert a foley cath. She frog legged the MAN and opened her kit, realized that his member was under part of his thigh. She moved his leg more and still no end in sight, she's RED now and trying to fish this thing out from under the patient. He was laying on it under his entire buttocks. By the time she got it out and tryed to insert the foley, she looked as though she had gone through a down pour rain storm, sweat dripping, the poor new grad., the foley cath was too short!! He was that long, should have been in pictures. The patient was freed from himself and the new grad asked to be relieved. I remained scrubbed in trying to hold back the chuckles of the situation. I bet new grad. will never forget this.:penguin:

I don't mean to highjack this thread, but this exact thing happened in the ED one night. An older RN (now I'm one of those):D asked me to come in and help her cath a male LTC resident who was pretty much gorked anyway. She was very embarrassed because "you young girls had to do this all along, but we never did, we had orderlies" It was only a red rubber for an in & out for UA, so I was putting on clean gloves just to help with the non-sterile aspects if needed while she pulled the covers back and we found the same circustance. She almost fainted but I encouraged her through it, but for a minute I thought the #15 straight cath wasn't going to be long enough, as she had it in to the hilt and still no urine:smackingf Finally a trickle:D

This was 17 or 18 years ago, I remeber it like yesterday.:rotfl:

Specializes in ER/Trauma, research, OR.

10 years in OR as a tech top 3

1) DOA Truck vs motorcycle. Pt massive Subdural so bad MD instructed staff to throw Skull flap away d/t Pt will never live. Pt A&O x3 to this day!!! We had to use bone cement to form a new skull

2) 111 pound Uterous/fibroid!!!!!!!! Pt had not seen MD for 15 years and just thought she had gained weight!?! Had to install special retractor into ceiling to help with surgery

3) 28 week preg 16 year old virgin??? Had to have Hyman perforated to allow lady partsl vault expansion with fetal growth. Pt went to OB/GYN for pelvic pain or UTI

When I was a student nurse in 1964, I watched as a surgeon pulled a large ABD pad (like a towel) out of a woman's abdomen. It had been in there 9 years since she had a c section!! ... There were quarts of purulence being suctioned out. This woman had psych. problems for years re: this abd and back pain... Large abdomen. I am sure there was a huge lawsuit, but the Dr.'s said everyone in this room must keep quiet about this!!!

I was working in South Phoenix, AZ. I got called in @ 2AM to remove an object from a rectum, (YEA!). The patient was a male and we placed him in candy cane stirrups. The circ. completed the prep and I draped, still cannot see the object that we were to remove and not knowing what it was. With a lot of K-Y and retracters, the surgeon was able to use a Kocher to grab hold of some metal. He was on a rolling stool and pulled, pulled harder, it was really in there, put his legs on the OR table to get leverage, all of a sudden it gave and the DR went flying across the room with this thing (A flash light top) still clamped onto the kocher. He bounced off the wall and suddenly two EVER-READY batteries fell out of the still lodged flashlight. The Dr's comment, "At least he is always ready".:penguin:

Specializes in Case Management.

As a student, I assisted in O.R. doing scrub and circulating duties. I loved the O.R. rotation, due to different cases each day. Doctors were super nice.

I was scrubbed in an AKA. My classmate had the dubious honor of holding the leg up so the surgeon could cut. We were so engrossed with what he was doing that neither one of us realized that the surgery was almost over until the surgeon told my friend that she could step away from the table. We both looked at the now-unattached leg with some surprise. What to do now? The leg was placed in a big bag and I guess they threw it away.

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

The leg is usually taken to patho to determine the extent of infection, disease.

It's placed in a bag 1) so people don't stare as it goes down the hall and 2) most places don't stock a container big enough for a leg.

just 2 weeks ago ,i was able to see cs op and at the same time BTL i thought what's this on top of the patients stomach,my gosh its the UTERUS...as if its a ball im so shocked ,my first time to see a UTERUS...

When I did my OR rotation, there was a woman scheduled for exploratory surgery for her right arm. Her hand was so swollen she appeared to be 400 lbs (she was only 110 lbs). Anway, the doc made the incision at her wrist and cut up to her elbow. The doc said she was a past drug abuser and was suffering from compartment syndrome. Anyway, he ended up cutting the posterior portion of the arm as well. So this woman's arm was completly exposed. You could see everything. It was very interesting.

+ Join the Discussion