Out to Lunch
If you come back late from your break, you'd better have a good excuse.
N
othing annoys a scrub
nurse or tech more
than a colleague who
comes back late from her lunch
break. Even a violation of a few
minutes can send the most
placid staff member into
blastoff mode. I can do without
the furor, but I do enjoy the
excuses the offenders offer
upon their tardy return.
• "The line at the deli was
long." How long is long? The
only way this excuse would fly
is if the deli were 3 miles away.
Or if the pastrami on rye with
everything really did have
everything on it and took a lit-
tle longer to prepare. Or if the service was slow (one bistro had a
waiter so old and frail that when I asked for salt and pepper, he had to
make 2 trips). But we all know which places to avoid and, as the
occasion dictates, how to eat on the run. I can still wolf down a sand-
wich in 20 milliseconds if I have to.
• "I lost track of time." This is a hard one to swallow, as every room
in the OR environs has at least one timepiece. Not to mention, only a
scarce few travel without their precious iPhones. The importance of
adhering to lunchtime allotment and tracking time is hardwired into
every employee — or at least it should be. Maybe the offender simply
1 2 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A Y 2 0 1 6
Cutting Remarks
John D. Kelly IV, MD
The tech's lunch
break was so long
that the scrub
nurse kept a diary.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN