Surgical tech here - the cases I was assigned to today were one of the ones done under local - numb the operative area, chop off some superficial stuff, stitch up, and move on. Patient is awake, not sedated, just numbed. Some patients really don’t like that even though general anesthesia would be WAY overkill for these procedures, and one of my patients was nervous as absolute fuck - dude was a wreck. Like probably the worst I’ve seen to date in his ability to cope with what we were about to do.
Worst was it’s a tedious case - Mohs procedures, so basically we take a specimen, send it to lab, wait for like 40 mins for confirmation that the wound edges are clear of cancer cells, then close.
So, while I was scrubbed in, I went full distraction mode - asked his favorite music, and played that through my cellphone while we were working; told every stupid dad joke under the sun, shared stories about silly shit I’ve encountered in the past, got him telling some of his own. Normally during that middle waiting-for-lab phase we’ll frog-hop cases into another room, or use that time to take our lunch or something - with this dude I just stayed in his room and bullshitted with him until his result came back (clear on the first pass, thankfully!). Last part for the closing is more of the same - just kept him talking. By the end of it he was actually laughing, and not just nervous but actually having a good time. We wrap things up, give him his discharge instructions, and send him on his way - he thanked everyone in the room, then pointed at me and gave me a shoutout, said I made the whole experience so much better than he was expecting / than it could have been.
Warm and fuzzies cranked up to 11!
99% of my cases involve general anesthesia, so I get pretty much zero interaction with my patients, cuz they roll into the OR, I barely have enough time to say hi before they get the sleepy drugs, and we get to work.
Was a real treat to have the opportunity to make that big a difference for someone!
I just wanna say this is cool :) I got nervous throughout medical procedures recently, and having someone talk to you - even about arbitrary shit like the weather - can go so far :)
Two things, quick one first: how do you play music on your phone if you’re scrubbed in? Like, can you touch your phone?
More important one:
That’s so fucking awesome. Medical professionals like you really help the freaked-out among us.
Not the same level of thing, obviously, but I have a bad phobia around blood draws. I don’t like shots, but I can deal pretty well. But blood draws just fully freak me out and I don’t know why. Same reaction I’d have if you tried to have me a black widow spider. The worst part of it, for some reason, is the location. It hurts less in the crook of the elbow, but psychologically, that’s the worst spot for me.
Had to get blood drawn today, and my PCP and all her nurses know how I am with this. I take it like a big boy, but I’m fully seething on the inside. I don’t freak out or panic, but I sit there and just have to close my eyes and make myself breathe, because I will legit forget to breathe.
Today, two nurses came in, and one kept me talking the whole time. Random shit. Talked about tattoos and car trouble and bills. Complete distraction technique, and it helped so much. The pain isn’t the issue, and other places have offered numbing spray. I mean, sure, that’s nice. But that isn’t the problem. The problem is that my fight or flight is kicking in. This doctor and the nurses get that, and they went the extra mile. It was amazing.
Sadly, I’m going to have to change doctors soon. I’ll really miss them.
how do you play music on your phone if you’re scrubbed in? Like, can you touch your phone?
Mohs are way less involved than most surgeries - typically the setup starts well in advance of the patient arriving, to include scrubbing in (surgical hand wash, sterile gown/glove) at which point you’re right: I can touch ONLY my sterile field, so no phone. Unless the phone is set up to use voice commands - my last phone was, but I only ever used it like twice, so I never bothered on my current one.
Mohs procedures use like 4 instruments and only a handful of supplies, so I didn’t even start opening anything until the patient is in the room - they do all the preop consent and stuff in the room for Mohs, which takes way longer than my setup - so I have a couple minutes to help with things like taking vitals, which is when I get talking to the patient, and when this one mentioned how extremely anxious he was. Music preference was asked then, and I got it started playing immediately after. Then the gloves went on, at which point the phone is off limits.
This is amazing!!! It was the anesthesia nurse for me at my last surgery who made me feel perfect about everything - you matter so much more than you realize!!!
Surgical tech here - the cases I was assigned to today were one of the ones done under local - numb the operative area, chop off some superficial stuff, stitch up, and move on. Patient is awake, not sedated, just numbed. Some patients really don’t like that even though general anesthesia would be WAY overkill for these procedures, and one of my patients was nervous as absolute fuck - dude was a wreck. Like probably the worst I’ve seen to date in his ability to cope with what we were about to do.
Worst was it’s a tedious case - Mohs procedures, so basically we take a specimen, send it to lab, wait for like 40 mins for confirmation that the wound edges are clear of cancer cells, then close.
So, while I was scrubbed in, I went full distraction mode - asked his favorite music, and played that through my cellphone while we were working; told every stupid dad joke under the sun, shared stories about silly shit I’ve encountered in the past, got him telling some of his own. Normally during that middle waiting-for-lab phase we’ll frog-hop cases into another room, or use that time to take our lunch or something - with this dude I just stayed in his room and bullshitted with him until his result came back (clear on the first pass, thankfully!). Last part for the closing is more of the same - just kept him talking. By the end of it he was actually laughing, and not just nervous but actually having a good time. We wrap things up, give him his discharge instructions, and send him on his way - he thanked everyone in the room, then pointed at me and gave me a shoutout, said I made the whole experience so much better than he was expecting / than it could have been.
Warm and fuzzies cranked up to 11!
99% of my cases involve general anesthesia, so I get pretty much zero interaction with my patients, cuz they roll into the OR, I barely have enough time to say hi before they get the sleepy drugs, and we get to work.
Was a real treat to have the opportunity to make that big a difference for someone!
I just wanna say this is cool :) I got nervous throughout medical procedures recently, and having someone talk to you - even about arbitrary shit like the weather - can go so far :)
Two things, quick one first: how do you play music on your phone if you’re scrubbed in? Like, can you touch your phone?
More important one:
That’s so fucking awesome. Medical professionals like you really help the freaked-out among us.
Not the same level of thing, obviously, but I have a bad phobia around blood draws. I don’t like shots, but I can deal pretty well. But blood draws just fully freak me out and I don’t know why. Same reaction I’d have if you tried to have me a black widow spider. The worst part of it, for some reason, is the location. It hurts less in the crook of the elbow, but psychologically, that’s the worst spot for me.
Had to get blood drawn today, and my PCP and all her nurses know how I am with this. I take it like a big boy, but I’m fully seething on the inside. I don’t freak out or panic, but I sit there and just have to close my eyes and make myself breathe, because I will legit forget to breathe.
Today, two nurses came in, and one kept me talking the whole time. Random shit. Talked about tattoos and car trouble and bills. Complete distraction technique, and it helped so much. The pain isn’t the issue, and other places have offered numbing spray. I mean, sure, that’s nice. But that isn’t the problem. The problem is that my fight or flight is kicking in. This doctor and the nurses get that, and they went the extra mile. It was amazing.
Sadly, I’m going to have to change doctors soon. I’ll really miss them.
Mohs are way less involved than most surgeries - typically the setup starts well in advance of the patient arriving, to include scrubbing in (surgical hand wash, sterile gown/glove) at which point you’re right: I can touch ONLY my sterile field, so no phone. Unless the phone is set up to use voice commands - my last phone was, but I only ever used it like twice, so I never bothered on my current one.
Mohs procedures use like 4 instruments and only a handful of supplies, so I didn’t even start opening anything until the patient is in the room - they do all the preop consent and stuff in the room for Mohs, which takes way longer than my setup - so I have a couple minutes to help with things like taking vitals, which is when I get talking to the patient, and when this one mentioned how extremely anxious he was. Music preference was asked then, and I got it started playing immediately after. Then the gloves went on, at which point the phone is off limits.
This is amazing!!! It was the anesthesia nurse for me at my last surgery who made me feel perfect about everything - you matter so much more than you realize!!!