Things You Should Consider Before Going Into Surgery

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From a surgeon standpoint, surgery is a mysterious place where serious happenings are taking place. To the outside world, due to shows like Grey’s Anatomy, it may look like an extremely attractive place to work. However, there are so many more facets to the operating suite that most people are in the dark about.

Stress Levels

Just knowing that someone else’s life may be depending on the actions of the surgical team members is enough to scare some people away from the profession. It takes special kind of people to deal with that low lying level of stress in their lives every day. Surgeries that go longer than planned can throw the entire surgery schedule out of balance. One of a kind item that are lost or dropped during surgery can be a real crazy maker. One also has to remember, not all patients make it out of surgery alive. People who work in trauma centers see a lot of death or abuse can have serious depression issues, if they do not have a healthy way to process these things. If an individual already has a fair amount of stress in their life already, surgery may not be the best profession.

Time Away from Family

Surgery is a very demanding occupation. There are times when the clock rolls around to time to go home and certain situations just will not allow the surgery personnel to leave. Sometimes birthday parties are missed. Special occasions may have to be cancelled. School functions are neglected. The family of surgical personnel suffers because of the dedication it takes for their family member to work in this environment. It is not like any other job or profession.

High Risk

With the increase of infectious diseases like HIV, Hepatitis C, C-Dif, and staph super bugs, getting a cut or needle stick on the job can be life threatening. If a person has an unusual fear of this type of exposure, surgery should definitely be reconsidered.

Physical Demand

The surgical tech in the room, along with the surgeon may have to stand a full 8 hours before being able to sit down. Even though all employees should get two nice breaks during the day, for operating room personnel this is not a reality. If a person is of short stature, he or she may need standing stools that stack on top of each other just to reach the field. Moving heavy patients can cause back injury in young people who otherwise would never have a back issue at all. Nurses have to crawl around on the floor to plug up equipment and make sure sponges and needles that may fall are retrieved and properly counted and disposed of. On call situations make for excessively long hours and exhaustion is a common factor for surgical employees.

Team Work

It takes dedication, commitment and patience to become a passionate surgical nurse. In order to work well in the operating room environment, a team member has to have full grasp of a team concept and be able to work well with others. Emotional maturity is a must. If people are still immature and doing immature things, the operating room may not be a place for them. The operating room is a serious environment where a sterile area has to be maintained during the entire procedure, with absolutely no compromise. It takes everyone on the team to prepare everything for the surgeries, police the sterile field, and work together for the good of the patient for the desired positive outcome.