The gown card reads “Girding your loins to address the elephant in the room. This is harder than it looks.”
This can be about many things. Today it will be about the so-called sacred animal in the OR. I know that I’ve written about this previously but this gown card brings it back full circle.
These are the sacred rules. Sometimes called a sacred cow and in today’s gown card is referred to as the elephant in the room.
These are the often nonsense rules that are followed. Just because they have been done for as long as there is memory.
There is no research behind them.
There is no common sense behind them.
One day someone just made up a rule to make it easier for them in that moment. And they foist this rule upon us forever and ever and ever.
Even if they don’t make sense.
What are these sacred animals?
Stand up and give your chair to the doctor is one. When I was a baby nurse, nearly 25 years ago, we had several older MDs who would demand our seats and our pens and the charts (back when we had paper charts) even if you were using them.
Wearing shoe covers on the shoes that live in the locker room. My hospital shoes live in the locker room if they are not on my feet in the OR. I do not wear them outside. This is me protecting the outside from the OR, and the OR from the outside. And is a very good practice. Anyways, shoe covers make me fall down. Mostly because they are made for men’s shoes and too big.
Or the elephant in the room can refer to treating the surgeons and other doctors like gods. It is okay to stand up to them. It is encouraged to talk back to them if you know that what they want to do is not right.
The patients are counting on us to be able to stand up for them. Because they can’t.
Before you develop the spine to speak up put my number in your phone and put me on speaker. I’ll tell them no for you.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 