Any surgeons/theatre nurses/similar here? I have a REALLY stupid question

[potterycat]

What I'm wondering is this: if you're doing a really long op, like several hours or more, what do you about eating and going to the loo? Do you just NOT?!

Told you it was a daft question!

I would seriously be interested to know though...

Theatre staff do have good bladder capacity but if it's a really long case there will be pauses where the surgeon can stop for a break and/or the scrub team will swap in and out as needed

Depends. If there’s a safe point at which things can pause for a while some may take short breaks if they need it...it may improve performance to have an empty bladder and some sugar (but clearly wandering off for a 3 course meal is not acceptable!) . Others don’t. There may be parts of an operation that don’t require the entire team to be scrubbed so they can tag-team to an extent. There will always be an anaesthetist & team in the theatre looking after a patient if the surgeon(s)/scrub nurse(s) do decide to pause so it’s not like everyone downs tools & heads to the coffee room! If it’s clinically inappropriate to pause then it’s just tough really. Surgery/scrubbing requires quite a bit of stamina!

Very interesting! Thank you for answering my question!

Good job I'm not a surgeon - my bladder capacity is pathetic.