OR Paper

Sarah Patrick

My overall experience in the OR was very positive. Before entering the OR, I got my surgical

scrubs. The nurse then informed me that I had to put on a hairnet, shoe covers, and a mask with a

splash cover before entering. After looking at the OR schedule, I went into my first surgery. The first

surgery I saw was a bilateral total knee arthroplasty, performed by Dr. Stanich. He informed me that

only about 5% of people get both knees replaced at the same time. The patient had a flexi contracture

on both knees, which forced his bones to curve inward and caused him the inability to fully straighten

his leg. They wanted to fix this contracture since it was on both knees, and decided to replace both

knees at the same time. They performed spinal anesthesia, and the whole procedure took about 3 hours

to complete. During the surgery a timeout was performed and everyone had to agree on the patient,

surgery being performed, and date of birth. I was very comfortable in the OR environment because one

of the assistants in surgery explained everything to me that was going on. He showed me when Dr.

Stanich shaved off osteocytes on the patella and he let me feel different parts of the knee that were

removed. The parts they removed from the knee such as part of the meniscus and bone were sent down

to pathology. While performing the surgery, tourniquets were placed on each knee to reduce blood

flow, and were then deflated before closing up the incision. The incision was closed with staples and was

then wrapped with gauze and an ace bandage. The patient was then sent to the PACU where he was

immediately hooked up to oxygen and a pulse ox to monitor respiratory function. The second surgery I

saw was a hernia repair with mesh. This procedure was performed by Dr. Smith. The patient was under

very mild anesthesia as the whole procedure took about half an hour to complete. Dr. Smith made a

very clean small incision in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen where the hernia was. He had one

of his assistances cut an oval size piece of mesh to place on the weak area. This mesh acted as a patch to

reinforce and protect the abdomen to prevent reoccurrence. Dr. Smith then sewed by the incision site,
and glue was placed over the incision area. The last surgical procedure I saw was a gallbladder removal.

This surgery was also performed by Dr. Smith. During this surgery the nurse anesthetist allowed me to

stand at the head of the surgical table, from his point of view. There he showed me some things he does

during surgery. He monitors the patient’s vitals and breathing. He administers pain medications along

with anesthesia through the IV as needed. During the gallbladder removal, multiple small incisions were

made as this procedure was done laparoscopically. During the gallbladder removal, the surgeon had to

cauterize the gallbladder tissue as it sits on top of the liver. The smell was very different but something I

got used to quickly. The overall gallbladder removal took about an hour to complete. The nurse

anesthetist put a small covering over the patient while under anesthesia to blow warm air on her. After

the gallbladder was removed, it was removed through one of the small openings made. I was surprised

how much smaller it is in real life than seeing it on the big camera screen during surgery! After the

removal, the suctioned the remaining blood and began to sew the incisions closed. Again glue was

placed on each incision site for reinforcement. Overall, I loved seeing all the surgeries in the OR. This

gave me a better feel for the roles each health care member has while in surgery. There is nothing quite

like being in the OR and actually watching an incision being made or a knee being replaced. I was so

impressed at how efficient the surgeons were. I think being in surgery gives you great exposure to what

people go through and this in turn helps one be a better nurse.