Scrub nurse in the NHS, AMA

[ForBlueKoala]

I’m a scrub nurse in the NHS, regional hospital.

AMA

Whats a scrub nurse are you who is in surgeries

When really long operations are taking place, what happens in relation to people getting lunch breaks etc? Does everyone just down tools for 30 minutes, have something to eat and then start up again?

And the same for drink breaks etc?

Yeah I work in surgery. I assist surgeons, am in charge of instruments and counts and circulate.

Have you ever been in a situation where the staff are slagging of the patient when they are asleep.?
Are the staff always quite respectful in the sense of trying to keep the patients private parts covered as much as possible while asleep.?
How common is it for patients to fart during surgery?
Are minor errors usually kept from the patient?

Do you assist all different types of surgery or are you say ortho or ent or something?

Every department is different and has different specialties, longest surgeries we do can take 5-6 hours or so (sometimes longer but that’s if the op is very complex or there’s complications).
If it goes on for that long I’d likely be relieved for lunch, but a 3-4 hour op I’d either have lunch before or after. The rest of us in the theatre relieve each other for breaks.
You can have an all day list in theatre whereby the surgeons won’t stop in the middle for lunch, but lots of the time there are AM and PM lists where you’ll have different surgeons for each list and you’d break in between.

My department we tend to get moved around although ortho have their own team as it’s specialised. I find out where I work in the morning.

We do a debrief and have heard more than one surgeon say the patient is too fat when asked if there are any problems (weight does make our job harder).
We don’t slag people off! If someone has unusual tattoos or something we might comment on it, we’re human. We keep private parts covered as much as possible, only expose when needed.
Never really heard a fart tbh.
Not saying what goes on in theatre stays in theatre, but errors can happen especially if training new staff. Anything big would be discussed.

Aww thats actually quite reassuring. I've had lots of surgeries and the staff have always been lovely but I did always wonder if tgis changed the second the patient went to sleep.

Have you ever had a patient die, or suffer a severe disability as a result of an error made in surgery?

Patient safety comes first, I think it’d be flagged up if someone was nasty about a patient while asleep.

Yes I’ve seen both, though maybe not severe disability

Have you ever felt faint during an operation?

And do the surgeons admit to the relatives that the death occurred as a result of an error?

Ah sorry I thought you meant if I’d seen death in general - not as a result of error I haven’t.

Mistakes that lead to disability I would presume would end up as a big investigation which I would guess definitely involves the patient.

Not faint from a gory point of view, I have done when I was new and didn’t eat the right stuff beforehand.

I have seen resident doctors and newbies faint when they’re not used to it. It can get hot when you’re scrubbed under the lights.

Do you ever fancy the surgeons as you're working in such close proximity lol?
Do you ever get in a flow state of knowing exactly what instrument or step comes next and have it all ready or do you not go on autopilot like that?
Have you been watching The Pitt?
What are your qualifications? Or did you apply from within nhs? I used to do dental nursing and it sounds very similar. Some dentists i worked alongside were very exacting and controlling/offbeat personalities, do you find the same in general?

Have you ever witnessed surgeons or staff arguing mid-operation?

You say you move around specialities, what is your favourite and worst speciality? And why?

Just interrupting to say that I used to be a dental nurse too and I used to MASSIVELY fancy the dentist I worked alongside 🤣🤣

God it was torture being in such close contact for 12 hours….. our knees “accidentally” touching underneath the dentist chair 🤣🤣

I have often wondered if it’s the same in operating rooms too…..needing to stay focused whilst really, really fancying the person you’re closely working alongside 🤣

If I fancied someone it wouldn’t be because I worked with them, though some surgeons have reputations with staff and sleep around.
Yes lots of surgeries I know what is coming next, part of being a good scrub is pre-empting what the surgeon needs. We have support workers in theatre and they pre-empt what I need too.
I don’t watch The Pitt, theatre is nothing like tv!
Am a nurse who was on the wards for a year before I applied - they train you up.
A few surgeons are known for being rude, but I think that culture is on the way out and those that are rude are reported. A lot can be very set in their ways especially orthopods!

I don’t mind vascular or general as it’s varied and covers a lot.
I like gynae but not obs which isn’t uncommon. Usually it’s because of the midwives involvement, in my Trust they seem very disorganised and poor at communicating. And patients sometimes make requests for sections forgetting they’re having major surgery and we have a job to do. They’re gently told no (and some of their playlists during birth are terrible)

Was also going to ask what speciality! I’m an ODP/team lead but work predominantly in scrub and SFA

I used to do spinal at another hospital but my job now is more general, not sure how common it is or
what I prefer really.

I like general. Lap chole is one of my favourite procedures to assist for.