Hello Everyone,
I hope you all enjoyed my first post, I really want to expose all the informalities and oddities that happen in the Operating Room. For about 97% of the cases that happen everyday, they are fairly straight forward with no funny business but I want to share the 3% of the cases where the unimaginable take place. Everything from dropped autograph implants (recycled ligament/tendon taken from patients body), patients waking up during surgery, and verbal/physical confrontations between people in the OR.
For starters I will explain some background about myself, I have been a medical sales rep for years selling primarily orthopedic implants. I have assisted in numerous cases ranging from simple procedures to cases that have lasted 8+ hours long. I have covered Trauma, Extremities, Sports Medicine, and Recon so I have experience with surgeries going very well and complete MELTDOWNS! I will try to keep everything in layman's terms so everyone can understand.
Case 2 - "Google it"
Today I want to share a story that was told to me by a coworker (another rep), and was confirmed by numerous nurses. But for the sake of the story I will be writing in first person.
So this case was a standard ACL reconstruction using a hamstring autograft, which means the doctor will harvest a part of the hamstring tendon then reuse that as the new ACL. This is a fairly standard repair but what made this case special was because it was the first case this doctor is doing by himself. This doctor just finished his fellowship and is now practicing on his own.
As a rep you always talk with the doctor prior to the case to confirm you have everything needed and to confirm the game plan for the procedure. So as I was confirming with this doctor I notices the doctor asked the nurse to quickly order an allograft ACL graft, just in case. Doing this, it typically takes a few hours for the graft to arrive. An allograft is a harvested tendon/ligament from a cadaver and is sterile packaged for surgical use.
So, as the case starts everything goes fairly smooth till it was time to harvest the graft. A special device is used to harvest the hamstring, it looks like a long stick with a circular ring at the tip to cut the tendon. So the doctor was able to get a decent amount of tendon, and then walked it over to the graft prepping station. At this station the doctor removed any remaining muscle so its only white shiny tendon left, then he prepared the tendon for reinsertion as ACL.
I could tell the doctor was getting too comfortable and was acting more relaxed than he should. In one swift acrobatic motion he turned back to the patient with the graft in his hand, and during his pirouette the graft went flying across the room. As the patients ACL was in the air the doctor and the scrub tech leaped for it like eager bachelorettes during a boutique toss. Splat, the graph hit the floor and everyone in the room was now huddled around it in shock. With the graft now on the floor the doctor looked at me with wide eyes hoping I had an answer, I could tell he was thinking OMG what do I do now.
He pointed at me and shouted "George, google how I can still use that (pointing to the graft on the ground)!!!" Laughing on the inside I took out my phone and did exactly what he said, and as I was typing in my phone I said "Doctor why don't I go and check the status on the allograft you ordered prior to the case." With a look of relief, he said "run". I reported back, "Doctor, it will be here in 2 hours or less." This was a THANK THE LORD moment for a doctor who could be facing malpractice charges.
Fortunately for me, my car was a mobile surgery center so I had every implant needed for an allograft case and was ready to go. The ordered allograft arrived 2 hours later and we finished the case. I could only imagine the conversation the doctor had with this patient in the recovery room.
Till next time!