Entry date: September 8, 2022
To the left, you will see me in my surgical gown and gloves ready to do a C-section in the operating room.
I was going to make that into a joke, like ha- as if, I haven't even made it out of undergrad school yet, but who am I kidding, the people reading this are either related to me or me so there's no tricking anyone.
I guess to some degree, my statement stands. I am in fact ready for surgery in the photo. I have all my gear on, and I put it on in a way that kept everything that needed to be sterile, sterile. I just don't know how to do a C-section.
How did I get there? Well, I was back at the hospital for the third day in the row. During the eight hours I was here, there were probably around five deliveries but unfortunately, the moms either didn't want a random health scholar there or the charge nurse forgot. So, after making around 30 welcome packets, 8 birthing packs, coffee for the nurses, about four beds, wiping down a dozen supply carts and returning them to patient rooms, and running down probably 15 vials of pee and blood to the lab (and waiting for absurd amounts of times for the seemingly incompetent elevators), I stood near the HUC's station, twiddling my thumbs. It just so happened that another person, who wasn't the HUC, sat at the station, also twiddling her thumbs.
Her name is Elena. She was a surgical tech. We bonded over our shared boredom. She said, well if you don't have anything to do, let me show you something!
We walked over to another part of the floor where she took me to the outside doors of the surgical area. Alarms went off in my head (as Health Scholars aren't allowed to see C-sections) so I reminded her that I wasn't allowed to see them, but she said, don't worry, we are going to do something else. The mystery was intriguing.
I put on a blue gown and a scrub cap before entering the surgical area (the cap is pictured above, but the blue gown is not; it is underneath the surgical gown that you see me wearing there). We went into one of the empty ORs, my first time in one! It was so cool.
Elena revealed what we were going to do. She wanted to show me the role of the surgical tech. So first, she showed me how to put on the gloves. They were super tight, not like your average pair of blue ones you use to dye your hair or something. The thing is, when you go into surgery, you are supposed to keep everything as sterile as possible. This means you can't touch the outside of your gloves or your gown when putting them on. The goal is to not share any of your DNA with the patient on the table.
The surgical tech stands there during the surgery, and makes sure that the surgeons get what they need; that they didn't accidentally contaminate their gloves (like by absentmindedly readjusting the non-sterile lamp above); that they didn't rip their gloves, etc.) They also set up the OR before the surgery.
(Warning: the following description is confusing for someone who hasn't seen it happen before. I will try my best to explain, but this is really for my reference)
Elena, acting as the surgical glove, held open the glove. The writing goes on your palm. You are supposed to insert your fingers into that glove and wiggle them in. Then for the other one, she uses that hand you just gloved as a way to hold open the other one for you. I did this, pretending to be the surgeon. Then when you remove it, you hook the outside of the opening part of the glove and take one off without touching the inside or your skin (you don't want to be touching those nasty things after surgery). Then you ball that glove up and put it in your other hand that still has the glove on, and use your finger to lift underneath that glove to take it off. Standard way to take off gloves - I've used this method in Chemistry lab. However, the only difference was I've never had gloves tight enough to hook the outside of the opening part of the glove.
Elena thinks that every surgeon should double glove. Usually, they put a colored glove under the white glove, so that it is obvious when the glove is broken. This is important to prevent the exchange of blood or other fluids.
Speaking of fluids, we had a discussion about shoe choice. Canvas shoes are a no-no. Only shoes that will not be saturated by fluids are worn in the OR (unless you are super rich and can afford to replace them over and over) because it is very likely that fluids will spill over the table. She told me about this one surgeon who wore tennis shoes and had that happen to him. Those shoes had to be thrown out. My vans did not make the cut.
Then, Elena showed me how to put on a surgical gown. It comes wrapped in a blue sheet. You have to pull apart the blue sheet, being careful to only touch the outside of it. Pull the tab in the front, then pull the corners out, and rotate the cloth until it forms a square. Pick up the gown (only touching the inside part of it), and shake off the towel that comes in the package. Then, stick your hands in either side flap and pinch the shoulder with your thumb and second finger. Being careful not to have the gown touch the floor or anything else, let the gown open, while keeping the shoulders pinched so that you are holding the gown up. Stick one arm through the sleeve (but not all the way through!). Use that sleeve to grab the opposite outside shoulder (to maintain sterility), and stick your other arm through that sleeve.
The surgical tech is supposed to come Velcro the neckline of your gown in the back. Theoretically, you, as the surgeon, aren't going to touch that part, which is why its fine for the surgical tech to do that. On the front of your gown, there is a tab attached to two straps. Hold both straps with your thumb and second finger. Hand the tab to the surgical tech, making sure they only touch the colored part (the non-sterile part), after ripping the shorter strap (usually the left) off. Then, spin. This makes it so that the longer strap that the surgical tech loops around you and you can now rip that one off the tab and tie both straps together on the side. Now your gown is tied!
Now, you have to put on your gloves. This is difficult since you cannot touch the outside of them, and your hands are still stuck in sleeves. Starting with the gloves on the table, slide your fingers in them, palm facing the writing. Then, I think, I think, if my memory serves me right, you have to use the other sleeve to slide your hand all the way in. If you did it right, part of the sleeve will be just below the thumb line. Then you do this with the other hand - in which you can help yourself out with your other gloved hand, since that one is sterile.
And then you're prepped for surgery!
When surgeons work, they have to keep their hands above their waist, because the area between their belly button and their chest is the area that is sterile. Any part below that could have touched the table, or something else, making it unsterile.
Afterwards, Elena showed me how to take everything off. Here is a video of me doing it (and failing pretty miserably to rip the gown):
Elena showed me how she set up the OR for the C-section they had at 2:30PM. Twenty minutes before, she put on the specific surgical antiseptic techs need to put on after they've scrubbed in and then we went back into the same OR. There she showed me how she open packages and threw everything onto different tables. She could not touch them since they needed to stay sterile, so after she replaced her gloves, she went through and sorted everything.
I left when the C-section started, but not before Elena gave me two different galoshes, a boot and a shoe cover. For the next hour I ran down a lot of labs to the lower floors, showing off my amazing fashion sense. I got many comments and stares at my footwear choices. I thought it was hilarious.
I came back after the C-section ended and Elena showed me how to scrub in. You take a sponge with soap in it (I forgot the exact ingredients) and wash your hands in a very specific way. You use a pick to clean under your fingernails, and then use the spikier end of the sponge to clean your fingernails more, fingers (you have to scrub each side of the finger ten times), your palm, and elbow. For the backside of your palm, and your forearm, you use the softer part of the sponge. This is because the latter parts of your body are more sensitive (your hands are tougher since you use them so much).
When rinsing, it is important to keep your arms at a 90 degree angle with your fingers pointed towards the ceiling. This keeps the dirty water from running down towards your hands. When rinsing your forearms, keep them flat so that the water runs down towards the sink rather than towards the fingers.
Then, I wiped my arms with paper towels. Ideally, you put on the antiseptic sprays that they have next to the scrub sink, but I had henna on my hand and didn't want to take it off quite yet.
I was called to help in triage (to make beds), but I made sure to thank Elena. I had so much fun learning from her today! I really appreciate staff who go out of their way to make sure that I am experiencing something new.
Comments