The gown card reads “Squeaky wheel gets the flip.”
Sometimes there is a gap in the schedule.
And all the surgeons eye the gap and ask for one of their cases to be flipped into the gap.
Even if the case has ZERO chance of fitting into the space. And if the flipped case runs over, the scheduled case is delayed. This can set up a domino effect, leading to irate surgeon who got delayed by no fault of their own, more than irate and hungry patients, and a happy surgeon that got to slide into a space their case doesn’t really fit into.
It is kind of like Prince Charming accepting the Ugly Stepsisters who slice off part of their own feet to fit into the glass slipper. It never really works well and they’re gonna get found out by the visible blood on the glass slipper.
Even after explaining all of this to some surgeons they persist in asking if they can use the space as a flip room.
Over and over.
They send minions: the circulating nurse calls to the desk and asks, the scrub tech stops by on their way to lunch and asks, the anesthesiologist stops by and “casually” mentions that gee, Dr. Impatient really could use the empty space well.
You’ve already said no and the requests keep coming.
Drip, drip, drip.
It is the unpleasant task of the charge nurse to not give in to the badgering.
Because if they do give in, and the flipped case goes over, and the next surgeon is irate and wonders why there was suddenly a case in their room that wasn’t there an hour ago, and Dr. Impatient’s original room is already setting up for their next case, not a care in the world when Dr. Irate’s case could have gone in there and started on time. But no one ever thinks that far ahead.
And all Dr. Impatient has to say for themself is a giggle and an “Oh, well, I guess I was wrong.”
Yeah, no shit you were wrong. But the blowback is on the charge nurse who let the squeaky wheel get the flip unless they’ve already left for the day, early don’t you know.
The real blowback is on Dr. Irate’s patient and subsequent patients who have to wait for a room to be ready.
Because the squeaky wheel gets the flip.
Sometimes no is the best answer we can give.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 