Teresa Modjallal > Quotes

“During surgery you hand the surgeon everything. All the instruments and supplies are on your back table, or on your mayo stand over the patient, where you have arranged them. If you do the procedure often you are a few steps ahead, always ready. When the surgeon starts closing the wound, you and your nurse count. When he closes skin, you count again. You put on dressings. You move all your supplies away from the bed and take the drapes off the patient. The patient gets wheeled to recovery, the surgeon dictates, you clean up.”
― Teresa Modjallal, Surgical Technologist Essays: Stories from a traveler scrub

“You go over all the steps of the surgery in your head to make sure you’re not forgetting anything.”
― Teresa Modjallal, Surgical Technologist Essays: Stories from a traveler scrub

“Even though surgery was initially terrifying, I liked being in a hospital, the feeling of making peoples’ lives better and doing important work.”
― Teresa Modjallal, Surgical Technologist Essays: Stories from a traveler scrub

“The circulating nurse. This is a Registered Nurse who has been trained to work in the operating room. The circulator helps get the room ready, deals directly with the patient before surgery, positions and preps the patient, helps the anesthesiologist during induction, performs the surgical count with the scrub, and gets supplies during the case. The circulator also has to chart everything that happens during the case and all supplies used. This is done on computer, on standardized forms that are lengthy and considered legal documents. Many OR nurses scrub too, but it’s cheaper for hospitals to use one tech and one nurse as a team, rather than two nurses. The Anesthesiologist, and/ or Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. The Primary Surgeon, who may bring an Assisting Surgeon or Resident, or a Physician's Assistant, or a Registered Nurse First Assistant, or a First Assistant who is usually a Certified Surgical First Assistant. Anesthesia Technician, to get supplies ready and support the anesthesiologist. Equipment tech. Some hospitals have a designated person to help with the complicated tables, beds, microscopes, etc.”
― Teresa Modjallal, Surgical Technologist Essays: Stories from a traveler scrub

“There is an opening in the drape that exposes where you’ll be working. You do the Time Out, which is the team pause before cutting, where you verify it is the correct patient, correct procedure, and correct site one last time.”
― Teresa Modjallal, Surgical Technologist Essays: Stories from a traveler scrub

“Trauma hospitals have at least one team working overnight, and have on call staff to support them. Common trauma cases are motor vehicle accidents, stabbings, shootings, and head injuries. Surgical emergencies are treated with the same urgency as trauma and include bowel perforation or obstruction, ruptured aortic aneurysm, testicular torsion, compartment syndrome, appendicitis, and ectopic pregnancy. All these things happen during the day too, and trauma hospitals have a special room and team assigned for this.”
― Teresa Modjallal, Surgical Technologist Essays: Stories from a traveler scrub