When surgical tools get left behind

I'm not a nurse but I saw them. IMO most of the "true life" medical shows tend to be a tad bit over exaggerated. Television is all about ratings and these medical shows tend to try to scare the general public.

My first hospital I worked at/learned OR nursing, almost got shut down. General surgeon left in a huge blue fish :-\ (he closed so fast and would not wait for counts). Around the same time they removed 3 sponges from another pts abdomen (different surgeon) that had been giving them pain for YEARS. I work at a much better hospital now where surgeons actually care about counts.

Sensationalism gets viewers. That's really all they care about. Same thing with all the medical/cop/whatever shows- reality wouldn't attract viewers.

Yeah, none of the so-called reality shows are actually reality. What gets me is when someone is shocked to find out that their favorite one is staged.

My first hospital I worked at/learned OR nursing, almost got shut down. General surgeon left in a huge blue fish :-\ (he closed so fast and would not wait for counts). Around the same time they removed 3 sponges from another pts abdomen (different surgeon) that had been giving them pain for YEARS. I work at a much better hospital now where surgeons actually care about counts.

Wow, that's crazy. I don't understand how he couldn't remember to pull it out when clearly he used it for a reason. That's scary that he didn't care about the counts, but I've worked with surgeons like that. You tell them something is missing and they automatically assume it's the staff's fault for counting wrong. It couldn't possibly be in the abdomen, even when they had to open it emergently due to the artery they just hit (I only wish I was making this up) trying to perform a laparoscopic procedure.

If I had a nickel for every time I have heard "Well, it's not in here" when I tell a surgeon that we are looking for a lap, raytex, needle or instrument, i would be driving a better car!

I thought it was really interesting that the doctor that left the clamp in the guy initially was just going to leave it in.

What's a blue fish?

I think it depends on what facility you work at. Where I worked before, it was very strict. Everything had to be counted and needs to be separated and the surgeons always want to make sure if the count is correct. And where I worked at we always had 2 circulators and these circulators made sure that everything is accounted for and that surgeons do not rush the closing part. I think such problems (having instruments getting left behind inside the pts body) is due to surgeons rushing ahead and get the next pt in the OR and the circulator is too scared to say something about it.

The problem with things like malleables, is that many times they are still "up" when they are counted. Many times when surgeons close there is a malleable, open lap, or fish "in" until the last few sutures are in. With the lap or fish the tag should be outside the pt, also the end of the malleable should also be sticking out.

We know where everything is, but making sure that LAST item is out seems to be the problem. I am parenoid until I see that last lap come out. The heart guys I work with will always stop if we say hold up for the count. What ticks me off is when someone knows they dropped something during the case and never say anything even after you are hunting.