Best Kept Secrets of the OR #13- sometimes the surgeons get away with it

Unlucky 13.

Did you know that many operating rooms don’t have an OR #13? Many hospitals don’t have a 13th floor, either. Many units also don’t have a room #13, including ERs, med-surg, ICU, and PACU bays.

Huh, I wonder why? This is a rhetorical question.

The best-kept secret of today is that sometimes terrible surgeons get away with their shitty behavior, with their throwing of instrumentation, with their misogyny, and their open disdain for women.

Sounds like a person who is headed for the White House, no?

It doesn’t matter that there have been many, many, many, many, oh so many, attempts to report a surgeon for bad behavior, they just seem to get a slap on the wrist and a pat on the back in the same motion.

Sometimes the assholes win.

When they do, you have two choices. 1) suck it up and deal with it the best you can and 2) keep reporting, even if it seemingly goes nowhere.

Eventually, bad things happen to bad people. At least that can be something we tell ourselves in an effort to cheer ourselves and our coworkers up.

Now if a surgeon’s bad behavior puts a patient in danger, that is an entirely different ball game. Often there is an Alert Line that team members and others can use to report behavior. Eventually, they have to listen.

In The Princess Bride, Fred Savage’s character reacts badly when the grandfather tells him that Westley is dead. If you haven’t seen the movie, watch it and understand so much more about my posts.

I feel like Fred Savage’s character today.

Best thing I can do for myself today is to take a nap.

And then start again.

I’m gonna Pollyanna a bit, and maybe Annie, too. The sun will come out tomorrow and I have hope that not all is lost. It’s just gonna suck for a bit.

Here’s hoping.