Behind Closed Doors: Love Isn’t the Only Battlefield...

The OR can be one too!

Outsiders picture the operating room as a quiet space where healthcare professionals move about in perfect synchronization. It’s obvious that these people have never spent a minute there! Warriors who have spent any time working in the OR know that it’s less Zen and more family holiday dinner. Instead of passing mashed potatoes and turkey, we are passing sharp objects and arguing about how cold it is. With this cast, we welcome the OR Wars.

Battle No. 1: Thermostat Wars

The thermostat is the hottest topic in the coldest reality. Most surgeons tend to like the OR as cold as a meat locker while the rest of the team fight for their lives in blankets. Why must we keep this room super cold? Is it for infection control purposes? The layers of clothes and lead aprons? Could it be the dreaded perimenopause in some of us, myself included?

Nobody is happy with the temperature, EVER! This is a never-ending battle that nobody wins.

Battle No. 2: Instrument Wars

This battle is fought between surgeons and scrub techs, with the curculator as the occasional innocent bystander. Surgeons want speed and accuracy when they need an instrument handed to them, and the surgical tech ninjas trained for this deliver the instrument flawlessly unless the surgeon dares to call it by the wrong name. “Wrong name” means one the rest of us do not use. Sometimes they are using the correct name but over the years we’ve given it a simpler nickname. The surgeon just didn’t get the memo. Docs also sometimes ask for “a clamp” when there 10 in the tray. Specificity would help!

Battle No. 3. Playlist Wars

Music has a vital role in the OR, bringing stress relief to staff and patients while improving rhythm and focus for those who need to get in the zone. Despite the benefits, the drama starts with whoever gets to pick the playlist.

Once the battle for playlist control is settled, we spend the rest of the day making or hearing comments about the selections. There is, however, unanimous agreement on not playing Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” in the OR. Other than that, it’s “Game On!” Don’t even get me started about when the Bluetooth speaker isn’t charged or has other issues — that is a whole other battle.

Even with the small battles we fight daily, nothing beats the teamwork that takes place. A certain look from a teammate can bring together OR teams who were in the middle of passionately arguing about the music. They communicate with a tiny nod or raised eyebrows that tell each other what is needed. OR staff are experts at the skill of reading the room.

We know the OR is a serious place in which we hold patients’ lives in our hands. Patients trust us to put them to sleep and wake them up. With such a heavy responsibility, we often find humor in the small things. A funny one-liner in the middle of a long case can lighten the mood and strengthen bonds among teams.

When the case is done, the drapes come off and the lights come on, everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Another patient’s off to PACU safely. Time to turn the room over and do it all again. The next case may involve a whole new OR team that will fight the same battles, then unite to take care of their patients. In the OR, nobody wins alone. The team does! OSM