Incompetence in the O.R.

Hello again,

I wanted to briefly talk about medical incompetence and the repercussions it has on patient's lives, specifically from my experiences in various operating rooms. Many times incompetence can be a result of a lack of training, mental state, or more seriously lack of seriousness/care during the operation. I've most commonly seen the lack of training or knowledge associated with being able to effectively work in an operating room as the most common scenario. I've seen nurses and physicians assistants who would consistently make mistakes, which would prolong the operating time of the surgery. Why is this a big deal? As the an operation proceeds, the longer a patient is under anaesthesia and is open to the environment the higher the risk of complications occurring i.e. secondary infections and more commonly unwanted anesthetic effects. The particular individual I saw posed serious risk to the patient by being unaware of the location of certain surgical materials and on multiple occasions bringing the wrong operating equipment into the room, only to be corrected over and over again by the surgeon. Also, during post-anesthesia in an emergency situation this individual got in the way of the doctor directly interacting with the patient because he/she did not know how to operate the bed and other basic equipment and spent significant time trying to figure it out in an emergency situation. Luckily, the patient turned out to be fine, however the outcome could have been much worse due to the lack of knowledge and awareness of this individual. Unfortunately, this situation isn't limited to the experiences that I have and it found in hospitals around the country. The reality is that every profession has its share of incompetence, however in medicine I've seen that the repercussions are much higher. The price of mistakes is the patient's life or quality of health. The most important and valuable lesson I learned in that situation is that as a surgeon, you must act to compensate for the faults of others; you must also be assertive and in control, ready for any complicating factors. You must be aware of what's occurring at all times because the patient entrusted their life to you, thus the responsibility is higher for the doctor than anyone else in the room.

The surgeon handled the situation in the most effective and beautiful way. He didn't waste time yelling at nurses or assistants, instead he authoritatively gave direct orders to everyone, which ended up organizing the situation in a way where control was regained. He formed a situation in which the complicating factor could be logically and cooly dealt with. Even throughout the surgery, the surgeon was very patient and calm as repeated mistakes where made by this individual. After the surgery, he may have made note of the incompetence in the patient record, but he never acted in a way where the person was embarrassed or threatened. The environment was calm and emotion-free because the surgeon behaved with everyone in the room, especially the individual in question, with great professionalism and dignity. From that day onward he became in my mind the perfect doctor; one who spends his time solving problems and worrying about the out come of the patient, without letting emotions and anger get in the way. If a complaint was made, he used the more professional avenues in dealing with it. I feel that this situation was the most rewarding because it's where I was able to learn essential life lessons that will benefit my career as a future surgeon. I have an example in which I can say, "Well this is the way a professional physician would act in intense situations."