I decided to spend the last three months of my year long internship in anaesthesiology. The main reason for this choice was that I want to get into residency in anaesthesiology, so I thought it would be a good idea to get some basic training in anaesthesiology before starting my residency. Now it has been a month and a few days of my internship in anaesthesiology and was enjoying it alot but an incidence in the OR today actually shocked me.
Since my start, I have been working in the Gynae/Obs OR. Most of the gynaecological and obstetrical surgeries are done under spinal anaesthesia so after a month I actually got quite comfortable with spinal anaesthesia. Since I am the only intern on this floor so I have quite an experience with spinals even after one month. The residents and attendings are very friendly and teach me alot of things. Mine is a large 1000 bedded tertiary level teaching hospital.
There are three Gynae/Obs units in the hospital and each gets to do their elective surgery lists on 2 days a week.
Today a case of Total abdominal hystrectomy was scheduled to be done by one of the residents of this particular unit. while the patient was being preloaded for spinal anaesthesia, I asked the senior anaesthetist if I may do the spinal, who agreed whole heartedly and left me with a senior anaesthesia technician to do the spinal. That was an easy spinal, I went straight into the space, got free flowing CSF in the needle. Checked , confirmed the presence of CSF with gentle aspiration into bupivicane containing syringe. Even the senior anaesthesia technician, congragulated me after observing it. Injected the drug in, put the patient supine and waited for the drug to act. While I was doing this, two gynae/obs residents, 8 medical students and senior anaesthesia technician were present in the OR. Even after five minutes the patient was able to lift up her legs and could feel pain on pinching the abdomen. After some time , but before the starting of surgery,the technician told me that spinal has failed, we will have to redo it.
While we were putting the patient back into position for spinal, the consultant gynaecologist, head of the gynae obs unit responsible for running the OR today, came up to check upon the progress of the surgery. Seeing the surgery hasn't started yet she asked the reason of the delay and was told by her residents that the spinal is in effective. She then asked very harshly " Who did the spinal?". She was told it was me. She rudely asked me to come up in front and asked :" who are u? an intern?" I replyed yes I am an intern. She then asked how much time have I spent in anaesthesia? I said its been a month and a few days.
She then asked in a very insulting tone:"Do you think you are capable of doing this? Will you give anaesthesia to ur grandmother or mother or aunt, at this stage?" She then asked the medical students present in the OR:" Will any one of you trust a one month trained intern to give anaesthesia to a relative of urs? No you wont"
She then turned to me and told me harshly: "You should only be doing this(giving spinals) after atleast 6 months of internship. From now on, you will not anaesthetize any of the patients on my units OR day"
All I said was " yes madam"
Then she called upon the senior anaesthetist and told her about the failed spinal by me. The senior anaesthetist told her that I am capable of doing good spinals and something must be wrong with the drug may be.
In short except for the last yes, I didn't say anything. I could have told her that this is a teaching hospital and not your private setup. People come here to learn. If your resident can do surgeries, why cant' I give spinals? If I don't touch any procedure for six months then how will I know how to get them right. There always has to be a first time and proficiency comes with experience. Why do you allow your residents with surgeries? If I wouldn't want a one month trained person to give anesthesia to my relative, I would definitely not want a junior resident to do the surgery anyway.
But I didn't say anything, cause I knew it would be worthless. She will not listen and make a much bigger issue. But I was hurt really very hurt. I had to work hard to fight off my tears. I was humiliated in front of so many people including medical students. No one ever had told me before that I was not competent or I was in capable of doing something.
The Surgeons of the other two gynae/obs units are really nice. One even gave me good tips on spinal while I was having trouble with one in the earlier days. They are encouraging. But the head of this particular unit made me feel bad about myself. She shook my confidence. I am still so depressed and hurt.
What do you people say about this?
Since my start, I have been working in the Gynae/Obs OR. Most of the gynaecological and obstetrical surgeries are done under spinal anaesthesia so after a month I actually got quite comfortable with spinal anaesthesia. Since I am the only intern on this floor so I have quite an experience with spinals even after one month. The residents and attendings are very friendly and teach me alot of things. Mine is a large 1000 bedded tertiary level teaching hospital.
There are three Gynae/Obs units in the hospital and each gets to do their elective surgery lists on 2 days a week.
Today a case of Total abdominal hystrectomy was scheduled to be done by one of the residents of this particular unit. while the patient was being preloaded for spinal anaesthesia, I asked the senior anaesthetist if I may do the spinal, who agreed whole heartedly and left me with a senior anaesthesia technician to do the spinal. That was an easy spinal, I went straight into the space, got free flowing CSF in the needle. Checked , confirmed the presence of CSF with gentle aspiration into bupivicane containing syringe. Even the senior anaesthesia technician, congragulated me after observing it. Injected the drug in, put the patient supine and waited for the drug to act. While I was doing this, two gynae/obs residents, 8 medical students and senior anaesthesia technician were present in the OR. Even after five minutes the patient was able to lift up her legs and could feel pain on pinching the abdomen. After some time , but before the starting of surgery,the technician told me that spinal has failed, we will have to redo it.
While we were putting the patient back into position for spinal, the consultant gynaecologist, head of the gynae obs unit responsible for running the OR today, came up to check upon the progress of the surgery. Seeing the surgery hasn't started yet she asked the reason of the delay and was told by her residents that the spinal is in effective. She then asked very harshly " Who did the spinal?". She was told it was me. She rudely asked me to come up in front and asked :" who are u? an intern?" I replyed yes I am an intern. She then asked how much time have I spent in anaesthesia? I said its been a month and a few days.
She then asked in a very insulting tone:"Do you think you are capable of doing this? Will you give anaesthesia to ur grandmother or mother or aunt, at this stage?" She then asked the medical students present in the OR:" Will any one of you trust a one month trained intern to give anaesthesia to a relative of urs? No you wont"
She then turned to me and told me harshly: "You should only be doing this(giving spinals) after atleast 6 months of internship. From now on, you will not anaesthetize any of the patients on my units OR day"
All I said was " yes madam"
Then she called upon the senior anaesthetist and told her about the failed spinal by me. The senior anaesthetist told her that I am capable of doing good spinals and something must be wrong with the drug may be.
In short except for the last yes, I didn't say anything. I could have told her that this is a teaching hospital and not your private setup. People come here to learn. If your resident can do surgeries, why cant' I give spinals? If I don't touch any procedure for six months then how will I know how to get them right. There always has to be a first time and proficiency comes with experience. Why do you allow your residents with surgeries? If I wouldn't want a one month trained person to give anesthesia to my relative, I would definitely not want a junior resident to do the surgery anyway.
But I didn't say anything, cause I knew it would be worthless. She will not listen and make a much bigger issue. But I was hurt really very hurt. I had to work hard to fight off my tears. I was humiliated in front of so many people including medical students. No one ever had told me before that I was not competent or I was in capable of doing something.
The Surgeons of the other two gynae/obs units are really nice. One even gave me good tips on spinal while I was having trouble with one in the earlier days. They are encouraging. But the head of this particular unit made me feel bad about myself. She shook my confidence. I am still so depressed and hurt.
What do you people say about this?
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