Stand up for patient safety

Today, well, last night was an odd one.

I got a page from a surgeon who needed to clear an abscess.

Not so unusual, we do a lot of abscesses.

But this patient had a tough airway.

Really tough.

Really they almost did not survive the last surgery tough airway.

I encouraged the surgeon to speak to the anesthesiologist as I was not sure they would be suitable for our community hospital.

Especially in the middle of the night.

With a skeleton crew of surgeon, anesthesia team, RN and scrub tech team.

I just didn’t feel it would be safe.

To quote Han Solo: ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’

Sanity prevailed.

They did the case the next afternoon.

With loads of people around to help, if needed.

Phew.