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BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Paula Watkins, RN, CNOR
Going to the Dogs
Which breeds inhabit your OR?
LOOK FAMILIAR? Any of your surgeons and staff remind you of certain dogs?
I'm sure you've seen dogs that resemble their owners. Or maybe it happens the other way around, that owners begin to resemble their dogs. Either way, the resemblance isn't always limited to looks. Personality and behavior can play a part, too. I recently found myself thinking about some of the breeds I've worked with.
The manager in charge of the schedule board must be a Border Collie. She's a bundle of task-oriented energy who's apt to chase and herd anything and everything. Which is how your assignment got changed to 6 different rooms in rapid succession during the course of a 30-minute turnover. Or why you're always feeling herded from room to room to relieve a co-worker or to take a break.
Everyone knows a circulating nurse who has the friendly, companionship-seeking manner of a Beagle. She's the one who's always organizing the potlucks among her co-workers. Just don't send her out of the room after a missing piece, because she'll be gone for what seems like hours, single-mindedly tracking it down. You'll occasionally hear her howling in pursuit.
Not all circulators are beagles, though. The territorial, yappy ones are Chihuahuas. They're the ones who believe that they, and only they, can work with specific surgeons, so keen are they to those docs' particular needs. For little dogs, they talk pretty big.
Doberman Pinschers are intelligent and alert guardians, but they can be domineering with strangers. Sounds like some of the male anesthesia providers I know. I don't dare touch anything in their workspace until
