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So I'm a medical student. Anesthesia is high on my specialty list but I'm only an M1 so I am keeping an open mind. I just want to grasp the culture in the OR a little better with regards to an incident I witnessed.
As a premed, I worked under a vascular surgeon who let me come shadow him during a AAA. This guy had every comorbidity you could imagine (or I guess not be surprised at because he had a AAA). He had HTN, Emphysema, T2DM, etc.
It's worth saying I only saw the anesthesiologist at the beginning of the case. So at some point in the case, his vitals started dropping. The surgeon told the CRNA to fix something and she began doing her thing. Vitals began to get worse and he told her to call for assistance. I assumed he meant the anesthesiologist. About 2 minutes later another CRNA comes in and begins helping behind the curtains. Vitals still aren't improving. Eventually the surgeon begins yelling at them to get a physician not a nurse into the OR. The doc shows up a minute later, asks some questions, and then fixes the issue in a minute. Unfortunately the patient died later that night.
So my questions are this:
1. Is it normal for the nurses to ask for help from other nurses first before getting the doc?
2. Is it normal for a doc to not be present for this long during, what appeared to be, a seriously sick Pt's surgery?
3. Just in general, did this case sound normal? Or was this as odd as it appear to be?
Sorry if this isnt appropriate for this forum and I'm not trying to cause drama. I know the CRNA issue can be a hot topic. I'm just genuinely trying to learn more about the culture in the OR. Thanks.
As a premed, I worked under a vascular surgeon who let me come shadow him during a AAA. This guy had every comorbidity you could imagine (or I guess not be surprised at because he had a AAA). He had HTN, Emphysema, T2DM, etc.
It's worth saying I only saw the anesthesiologist at the beginning of the case. So at some point in the case, his vitals started dropping. The surgeon told the CRNA to fix something and she began doing her thing. Vitals began to get worse and he told her to call for assistance. I assumed he meant the anesthesiologist. About 2 minutes later another CRNA comes in and begins helping behind the curtains. Vitals still aren't improving. Eventually the surgeon begins yelling at them to get a physician not a nurse into the OR. The doc shows up a minute later, asks some questions, and then fixes the issue in a minute. Unfortunately the patient died later that night.
So my questions are this:
1. Is it normal for the nurses to ask for help from other nurses first before getting the doc?
2. Is it normal for a doc to not be present for this long during, what appeared to be, a seriously sick Pt's surgery?
3. Just in general, did this case sound normal? Or was this as odd as it appear to be?
Sorry if this isnt appropriate for this forum and I'm not trying to cause drama. I know the CRNA issue can be a hot topic. I'm just genuinely trying to learn more about the culture in the OR. Thanks.