funniest thing today

[ThinkFast007]

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Ok..I know that the ASA wrote a letter to the producers of Grey's Anatomy,etc on this particular topic, but I actually saw it happen today!

We were doing an abdominoplasty and as you guys (well maybe not the med students) konw it is looooooooooong. So we're all doing this, when the chairman of the dept of surgery walks into the room, then is walking about and all of a sudden calls out to behind the drape, "he you behind there wake up!" we all turned to the anes and lo and behold he was indeed faaaaast asleep. later in the case it happend again.

I just thought that this was probably the FUNNIEST thing i've seen in the OR. The residents, who all know i want to do anes, poke fun at me about this particular matter. But i didnt think it could really happen. but then again, who can blame the guy, i was just holdikng the freakin camera the entire case and almost fell asleep as well.

anyone else w/ funny stories like this?

later

 

[supahfresh]

😱

hope that doesn't happen to me.

 

[Laryngospasm]

😱

hope that doesn't happen to me.

Almost happened to me one time, in a trauma case at six am, after being up all day and night, the trauma started about 1am, rush to get lines etc, push tons of blood products, finally get the patient stable......and then....BEEP...BEEP....BEEP....BEEP, for hours just kept catching my head falling forward. Happens to everyone at some time I think.

 

[ThinkFast007]

Almost happened to me one time, in a trauma case at six am, after being up all day and night, the trauma started about 1am, rush to get lines etc, push tons of blood products, finally get the patient stable......and then....BEEP...BEEP....BEEP....BEEP, for hours just kept catching my head falling forward. Happens to everyone at some time I think.

esp nowadays i think....the hosp i'm rotating at now dont have those backless, stools anymore. the gas docs sit on nice office chairs....it's rather nice. how funny would it be if there was some retrograde 'halothane' effect and instead of hte pt getting the gas it went the other way 😱 😱

 

[toofache32]

One of the anesthesia attendings told me the OR is comprised of "a half-asleep anesthesiologist with a half-awake patient being operated on by the half-witted."

 

[jetproppilot]

Ok..I know that the ASA wrote a letter to the producers of Grey's Anatomy,etc on this particular topic, but I actually saw it happen today!

We were doing an abdominoplasty and as you guys (well maybe not the med students) konw it is looooooooooong. So we're all doing this, when the chairman of the dept of surgery walks into the room, then is walking about and all of a sudden calls out to behind the drape, "he you behind there wake up!" we all turned to the anes and lo and behold he was indeed faaaaast asleep. later in the case it happend again.

I just thought that this was probably the FUNNIEST thing i've seen in the OR. The residents, who all know i want to do anes, poke fun at me about this particular matter. But i didnt think it could really happen. but then again, who can blame the guy, i was just holdikng the freakin camera the entire case and almost fell asleep as well.

anyone else w/ funny stories like this?

later

IMHO, thats inexcusable.

I'm a proponent of anesthesia providers reading in the OR. Yeah, theres alotta controversy there....distracting you from the case, blah blah blah.

Bottom line is sometimes cases on auto-pilot need NO intervention for long periods of time. And if the clinician has nothing to do, well, it gets tiring.

Having something to occupy ones mind during these periods is beneficial in my opinion...keeps you awake, quite frankly...I read Baby Miller cover-to-cover more than once during cases when I was a resident.

I don't care what it is...Vogue, Skateboarder, BabyMiller, Time, Newsweek. A periodical being read by a clinician behind the drapes is not a distraction id used properly...it is an asset.

Guess I'm a chip off my old man's shoulder.....he routinely did crossword puzzles while his TWA 747 was on autopilot enroute to Heathrow from LAX....

distraction?

Not a chance.

 

[DrDre']

This can happen to anyone.

It bothers me though because it gives fodder to other medical people and laypeople about anesthesia being easy or mindless.

"If it is hard, how can you fall asleep?"

One resident told me if she knew she was tired, she never allows herself to sit down. I think this would be annoying but pretty effective.

JPP, how bout some Dre' and Snoop to keep us awake in the middle of the night? Why do those surgeons get to be DJ in academia?

 

[supahfresh]

I'll tell you what is funny. me spraying myself with a bottle of propofol when the needle came loose from the syringe after pumping 20 cc of air into the bottle.

 

[DrDre']

After dripping propofol on the floor, maybe 10 times last month, someone finally saw me injecting air into the propofol vial while using the one vented plastic thingamajiggy. After they told me what that side port was for, i understood why only I could not withdraw propofol in a more esthetic manner.

My name is Dr. Dre' and I too am a tool.

 

[no oxygen]

After dripping propofol on the floor, maybe 10 times last month, someone finally saw me injecting air into the propofol vial while using the one vented plastic thingamajiggy. After they told me what that side port was for, i understood why only I could not withdraw propofol in a more esthetic manner.

My name is Dr. Dre' and I too am a tool.

 

[Sugar72]

yes - i watch grey's anatomy and the story line was that the anesthesiologist was a lush and coming in to do cases loaded. The geeky male surgery intern confronted him before a peds case and the hunky surgery attending kicked the intern out and took the drunk anesthesiologist's side and then the anesthesiologist passed out in the middle of the case and the kid woke up. that show is like an hour of eating really chocolate-y junk food....mmmm - so bad..yet so good.

 

[Mman]

I've never caught an anesthesiologist napping, but last night at 3:30 am when I was tracking down the radiology resident to read a CT from a trauma patient in the ER I found her sound asleep in front of the view station in the reading room. I stood there for about 20 seconds before waking her. That was kind of funny.


As for reading in the OR...I'm all in favor of it in the proper context. Helps keep you mentally sharp and awake and alert instead of spacing out when things get slow.

 

[timtye78]

My program director was talking about a resident falling asleep in the OR, and she said in her mind there are two things that immediately come to her mind when this happens:

1) the resident is overworked/fatigued
2) the resident is abusing drugs

I absolutely bring reading material for those 3 am I&D washouts and other 'benign' procedures. I open up Morgan as well, unashamedly in the OR. I do this especially since my program keeps us in the ORs most days past 7pm. Usually when I get home, there is little energy to do much else.

If you feel drowsy, go drink some coffee or coke to keep you alert. Seriously, you are supposed to be monitoring things about the patient that no one else is responsible for. If the patient crashes, you had better either anticipated it or been ready to take decisive action.

 

[MechE]

We were doing an abdominoplasty and as you guys (well maybe not the med students) konw it is looooooooooong. So we're all doing this, when the chairman of the dept of surgery walks into the room, then is walking about and all of a sudden calls out to behind the drape, "he you behind there wake up!" we all turned to the anes and lo and behold he was indeed faaaaast asleep. later in the case it happend again.

 

[Idiopathic]

We did a double lung transplant a few days ago that was such a cluster (fine outcome and no real intraop events other than ridiculously unstable pressures and PA pressure about 80% of systolic, mixed with some occasional 'hey we've got no end-tidal here') that we really didnt stop moving for about 8 hours. I had little time to be tired, but by the end of it, I could have fallen asleep on my feet.

I did, however, wake up with the laparoscopy camera in my hand once, a little disoriented, but with the field still in view, merely rotated a little. I think I might have been snoring though, because I did get some strange looks.

 

[Tenesma]

i think it is inexcusable..... PERIOD...

if you know that you are getting tired because of a long shift - then don't sit down!!!! stay standing and try to get a quick bathroom/mountain dew break.

Anything else is MALPRACTICE due to NEGLIGENCE in my opinion.

Have i almost collapsed of fatigue --- sure... but that is why you have colleagues to break you out for a quickie.... If i am stuck all by myself, I will do a few pushups on the floor to get the blood pumping again. I had a colleague in residency who would cycle the BP cuff on his calf with the settings very high (we can adjust the starting SBP on our monitors) and cycle every 5 minutes... he couldn't do the long embo cases (that have a-lines) without it, but he also didn't have anybody to break him.

 

[lvspro]

i think it is inexcusable..... PERIOD...

if you know that you are getting tired because of a long shift - then don't sit down!!!! stay standing and try to get a quick bathroom/mountain dew break.

Anything else is MALPRACTICE due to NEGLIGENCE in my opinion.

Have i almost collapsed of fatigue --- sure... but that is why you have colleagues to break you out for a quickie.... If i am stuck all by myself, I will do a few pushups on the floor to get the blood pumping again. I had a colleague in residency who would cycle the BP cuff on his calf with the settings very high (we can adjust the starting SBP on our monitors) and cycle every 5 minutes... he couldn't do the long embo cases (that have a-lines) without it, but he also didn't have anybody to break him.

I too find that a quick 4-5 minute "workout" usually gets the ole' adrenaline cranked up enuf to keep me awake no matter what the case... this includes the umpteenth D&C w/scope, and also c-sexns. Pushups are an excellent option, but if upper body isn't your forte, you could always hit the stairwell for a few flights. Maybe this explains why alot of the anesthesiologists I see are buffed up. 🙂

 

[Tenesma]

if you really want to stay awake you can try a few anesthesia tricks

1) reorganize your cart
2) talk to the surgeons about good movies out there
3) mix drugs to see which combo precipitates (that really only works once or twice)
4) create a jet ventilator using different parts from inside the anesthesia cart and time yourself....

or my favorite... accidentally extubate and then reintubate the patient... just kidding..

 

[Beck928]

I think the people that fall asleep in the OR might be the same type of people that fell asleep during big tests! That seriously happened to some of my friends at school! For me, that is unimaginable, but some people just have a low threshold for tiredness. Maybe they shouldn't choose anesthesia as a career.....all I know is that Jawbreaker on my PDA only takes up a small percentage of brain power and leaves plenty left to pay attention!

 

[UTSouthwestern]

if you really want to stay awake you can try a few anesthesia tricks

1) reorganize your cart
2) talk to the surgeons about good movies out there
3) mix drugs to see which combo precipitates (that really only works once or twice)
4) create a jet ventilator using different parts from inside the anesthesia cart and time yourself....

or my favorite... accidentally extubate and then reintubate the patient... just kidding..

Sure you are.

 

[toofache32]

or my favorite... accidentally extubate and then reintubate the patient...

.....with a nasal RAE and a whistle. The surgeons will wonder what that funny noise is.