ok....ur in surgery doing your thing...the procedure is gonna take a few more hours and you cant hold it. What do docs do when nature calls? is it possible to be excused for a moment or 2 and have someone cover for you until you come back? Im sure this is possible cuz i dont think many can hold it in that long....especially in operations that last the entire day!
This was just a topic of discussion a month or so ago. Do a forum search... But to paraphrase, the earlier discussion said that you typically don't think about it, and the problem doesn't arise.
After you re-scrub, and some attendings will not let you, you had better do some kissing up and make sure it doesn't happen very often. I've seen some attendings not even let their residents back in the room after they broke scrub. And I've personally gotten several dirty looks because I had to break scrub to go to a required lecture. Some just think that if you can't stay for the entire time, then don't even bother coming in to begin with. wvshootr
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It isn't necessarily a bad idea to lay off the fluids (especially coffee/soda/tea's or anything with caffeine in it) during the morning before your required surgery. If you can't function without caffeine, then drink it concentrated so as to not overload your bladder. Now, I'm a boy, and nature calls often enough for me as well, but I never had a surgery where I had to break scrub because of a bathroom break. And usually, if they're long surgeries (at least at Mizzou), the attending will take a break in the middle, then the fellow, and so forth. The "good student" should stay that whole time. But if they invite you to break scrub, and you need to go, (or to eat, as I had to), do it. It may be your only chance. They won't be mad, if they extend to invitation to you. Good luck. Surgery is a rough one...and I'm glad I'm done with it.
LOL. Medschool.com used to have a Humor Section which included a piece on Being a Gunner. One of the suggestions was to catheterize yourself so while your weak bladdered classmates had to scrub out you were doing the Whipples all day long!
