Post-it 5/1/22-Music in the OR

The post-it reads ‘surgeon singing along with Poison- Talk Dirty to Me.’

Music in the OR can take many forms.

Depending on the surgeon.

Depending on the surgical type and specialty.

It can be so loud you can’t hear yourself think. Forget communicating with the field. This is where OR sign language comes in handy. An entire conversation can be had with the scrub tech with no words being spoken. You can’t hear them anyway. But you can get them what they need.

It can be so quiet you can hear the music, but not the words. This is best for the surgeons who get distracted by the song. And insist on singing along, with choreography for their favorite songs. And every song is their favorite. And the desk wonders why we get behind.

There can be no music. This is in defense because you can’t understand the surgeon, regardless of the volume.

A shoot off of that is when to turn the music off completely. Surgery and surgeon can be bopping along to a hit when a different kind of hit takes place. This is usually when the surgeon gets into unexpected bleeding. The best thing to do is to turn down, or better yet off, the music. This is a drastic move that can yield big time effects. It lets the surgeon know you are serious, that you understand the case is going badly, and signals to the anesthesia team as well. If they aren’t paying attention, or are busy.

Type of music is key. Some surgeons bring their own, complete with speakers. Some like different music. Some have the preferred XM station on their cards. Where I worked in California, the eye doctors all listened to classical. I thought this was across the board until I moved to the South. An eye doctor was listening to rap. Whatever lets you focus, dude.

And some prefer the quiet.

All of that is okay.

If the surgeon likes music, I ask the patient what kind of music they prefer for going to sleep. Some patients have definite ideas, down to song, who performs it, even the album it comes from, not that version, dearie, I prefer the 1967 version.

I can completely relate. My favorite version of Falco’s Rock Me, Amadeus is on their album 3. The one that they used for the video. The Salieri version. Be right back. This requires a deep dive on YouTube.

Okay. Found the Salieri version but not the ones with facts. This still eludes me.

Where was I before the deep dive into my favorite music? What? I was a weird kid.

Music and the OR. These two things go together quite well. Until they don’t. And administration needs to get involved and tell the OR and surgeons that explicit lyrics are not allowed.

You know that normies do not get OR anything. What we listen to. The temperature in the room. Our humor. Especially our humor.

Music and the OR go together like peanut butter and jelly.

But some don’t like peanut butter. Or are allergic. That’s okay.

No music, low music, loud music. It’s all okay. Until you keep the other room up.

And then it’s too loud.