Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

What Will the OR of the Future Look Like? - July 2014 - Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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1 1 5 J U LY 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E BEHIND CLOSED DOORS tions each have their own jobs to carry out. They watch who's calling the shots and they try to figure out who's the most valuable player. Is the surgeon the quarterback, or the coach? Is the charge nurse the coach, or the referee? Maybe we all play different positions at different times. Everybody wants to be making the plays and nobody wants to be on the sidelines, but there's an argument to be made that it's the voices and action from the sidelines that get us through the case and through the day. Once upon a time, I was a cheerleader, and I know them to be strong, tough, smart, lean and sometimes mean individuals. Cheerleading is even considered a sport now, by no less of an authority than the American Medical Association. Stunt doubles Cheerleading is a study in multitasking done gracefully. Kind of like surgi- cal nursing. Who among us hasn't loaded up both arms with the supplies we've pulled, then used our hips to close drawers and open doors? We've all climbed a pyramid of stepstools to fix elevated equipment with silk tape. We should've gotten a round of applause that time we held a patient safely on the OR table while sliding a supply table closer to anesthesia with our foot. Cheerleading is also about spirit and support. When it comes right down to it, you could see the entire surgical team as a cheer squad. Like when we really need a first down and the scrub says, "Hey doc, want me to get that thing you liked last week?" Or when I'm losing yardage and someone enters the room to ask, "You've been busy, can I get you something or give you a break?" Or the way your heart starts pumping when anesthesia tells the patient, "Take a deep breath, we're right here with you." The cheerleader might just be the most important position on the surgi- cal team. It's a role we should all aspire to. OSM Ms. Watkins can be reached at pwatk ins12@comcast.net . OSE_1408_part3_Layout 1 7/3/14 8:46 AM Page 115

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