Best kept secrets of the OR #11- mister, are you tall?

Best kept secrets of the OR #11- Mister, are you tall?

This is a reference to the parody song “Existential Blues” by Tom “T-Bone” Stankus. If you haven’t listened, this is your sign. I’ll wait.

The OR team comes in all shapes and sizes. From small to tall, from large to not, all are welcome and represented.

But what if there is a very tall tech and a short surgeon? I put forth in evidence the 6 foot 5 inch tech and the 5-foot tall surgeon I worked with for years.

You see, you don’t get to choose your team when you are the surgeon, it is the middle of the night, and we are on call. There will be a height discrepancy.

What do we do? Saw off the techs legs or make them kneel?

Nope.

This very real problem has a lo-fi solution.

Boxes.

Not the soap boxes where the surgeon/tech can expound at length on a variety of topics.

These are more risers, to give the one lacking in height a 3-6 inches boost.

I write 3-6 inches because the risers are about 3 inches tall and they are stackable.

This kind of cuts into the discrepancy.

But one thing is for certain. The taller one will have a crick in their neck after surgery from looking down and the shorter one will have a crick in their neck after surgery from looking up.

Them’s the breaks as we don’t have a lot of variety to choose from. There isn’t a special stash of scrub techs or surgeons in the back if the one on display doesn’t suit.

This is not Goldilocks and there is no perfect fit.

Someone is gonna have to stoop or look up.

I do caution the ones on the riser to be careful. Because that can be a big fall if you aren’t paying attention.