Trauma call and scrubbing in

Wednesday night I shadowed on the trauma surgery service at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. For those who aren’t in touch with the life of a doctor, being on call is basically when you stay at the hospital for an exorbitant period of time and treat patients during hours when no sane person would consider working. It’s an integral part of a surgeon’s development and its main purpose is to suck the life out of doctors in return for a sense of pride and accomplishment.

From 6 pm to 1 am, I saw a gall bladder removal, a weird case of bowel obstruction, a bullet removal, a naked drunk guy trying to escape from the CT scanner, and a trauma patient whose heart completely stopped and then came back in perfect working order.

By the end of the night I was mentally and physically exhausted. The residents, however, who arrived at 6 am that day, continued on till morning…

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Today, as part of my surgery selective, I learned the art of “scrubbing in”. Surgeons go a long way to ensure that no germs go anywhere near their patients. As a result, everybody that goes near the patient has to have a 10-minute, 900-stroke session of hand washing and put on completely sterile gown and gloves. If your hands go below your waist, you have to start all over. If your gown, glove, or hands touch anything that hasn’t been sterilized, you have to start over. If you unwrap your gown the wrong way or even tie it the wrong way, you have to start over. If you even turn your back to the patient or sneeze the wrong way, they have to start over. Now I understand why med students are always standing around with their hands up looking like these guys.

Also today was a talk by a Cardiothoracic surgeon who specializes in…ROBOTIC SURGERY!!

Also known as the ultimate chick magnet. I think this beast (called the DaVinci Robot) is mostly used for prostate surgery, though. Prostate surgery is, unfortunately, the opposite of chick magnetism.