While You Were Sleeping
By Laura Puckett RN.
I am a peri-operative RN. That means I work in the operating room as a scrub nurse or a circulating nurse. Most patients go through their surgery experience without remembering the numerous people who care for them while they are sleeping. We don’t always remember every case we’ve been involved in; but some we never forget.
It was a Friday afternoon in a busy operating room. Our cardio-thoracic
surgeon had just informed us that we had an add-on case. Everyone groaned,
wishing we were going home instead of doing one more case. I asked Dr.
M what procedure he was booking. He explained that it was an unusual
case of a sheared diaphragm as a result of a motor vehicle accident.
The nineteen-year-old female patient was being transferred from the
trauma unit to the pre-op holding area. While driving to work, she had
been hit head-on by another driver, who had crossed over into her lane.
Dr. M said that the EMTs initially thought she was dead at the scene,
however, they found a pulse and she was air-lifted to the trauma unit.
It was a miracle that she was alive. At the time she was unconscious
and had suffered massive internal injuries and multiple fractures. Her
chest cavity and abdominal cavity were no longer separated. The upper
abdominal organs were being pushed into her chest cavity and were compromising
her heart and lungs. Now it was ten days after the accident and she
was stable enough to have the large tear in her diaphragm repaired.
Dr. M and I discussed the special needs he had for this procedure and
the approach that he would take. Our team that day consisted of the
surgeon, Dr. M, our anesthesiologist, Dr. G, two RNs, one OR Tech, and
two peri-op assistants. My role that day was first circulator.
