Making A Career At The Surgical Field

Jessica Reinhart 3/8/2017 Health Science II Trauma Surgeon     Trauma surgery encircles treatment of the most severe, life-threatening, pungent  and blunt force injuries. For example, car wrecks, sport injuries, heart attack, and suicide attempts. A career as a trauma surgeon involves operating on critical, and often several injuries to unlike organ systems. Some of the commonly operated on organs are the pancreas, spleen, stomach, and colon. Trauma surgeons also work with surgeons in other specialties to help balance patients who are  in critical condition, and usually work in the emergency care area of a hospital or medical center.     Students  who are wanting to become  trauma surgeons must first receive a bachelor's degree in areas such

Becoming a surgical technologist require a lot of dedication and tolerance, whether it's standing on your feet for hours or just simply preparing a patient for surgery. A surgical technologist is a person who helps to prepare an operating room by setting up sterile surgical instruments, equipment and supplies, such as drapes, gowns, gloves, suction tubing, and receiving solutions and medications from a circulator (jeff.org) Surgical technologist also ensure all technology used in the operating room is working properly. Although all of these jobs are very important, the most important job would be assisting the surgeon during their surgeries. Surgeries could last up to eight hours, (explorehealthcareers.org). That's

The general principals for environmental cleaning are to ensure the hospital environment is as clean as possible to reduce the risk of infection, and that all precautions are taken in accordance to legislation and Healthcare policy’s and guidelines. “To prevent the transfer of micro-organisms which may cause infection, and to prevent the transfer of foreign protein which may cause adverse reaction and pose the risk of spreading diseases e.g. vCJD. “

All areas that are being used for healthcare activities should be cleaned with either disinfectant wipes each morning and in between patients/procedures. Equipment should be all new out of the packets and clean. For things more major such as vasectomy’s, minor surgery or family planning clinics, areas should be cleaned everywhere with a disinfectant fluid and also with wipes, gloves should always be worn as well as other PPE such as aprons and hats. All equipment should be new from the packet and only touched by the person who is using

My first clinical experience for this nursing program was completed at New England Rehab Hospital. I walked in with some clinical experience but no experience in the realm of nursing or certified nursing assistants (CNA). During that first semester we followed CNAs to understand their job and gain basic nursing skills like bathing patients, bed making and other daily tasks. It was useful and I’m still happy we were able to have that experience. A situation that made me uncomfortable during that semester that one particular CNA never sanitized his hands when entering and exiting a patient’s room. In most hospitals and nursing facilities there is a “pump in, pump out” rule to abide by when entering and exiting a patients room rule to ensure health care workers are not spreading bacteria to themselves and other patients. This particular CNA admitted to me that he pretends to push the hand sanitizer and rub his hands together without actually getting any sanitizer in his hands. His reasoning was that he found it overly drying to use the sanitizer so frequently despite the hospital providing lotion as well.

I have always believed that my success is defined by my happiness. This paper will discuss my personal goals as they apply to my education and career choice of Surgical Technician, as well as some of my strengths and weaknesses that will contribute to my success.

Once the dressings were securely on and the procedure had been finished, I removed my apron and gloves and disposed of them in the plastic bag, along with everything thing else I had used and then washed my hands again. After leaving the patients home I discussed my practical experience with the Nurse who informed me that I although I had carried out the procedure well it was actually carried out using a clinically clean technique rather than the Aseptic Non Touch Technique as I had thought. As I had used the same gloves to remove the dirty dressings from the leg ulcer and then apply new sterile dressings I had not maintained the Aseptic Non Touch Technique. The Nurse informed me that this was perfectly suitable for the procedure I carried out as the wound was still kept as clean as possible and dressings and equipment used were sterile.

Imagine waking up from kidney surgery only to realize that there are stitches not only on your stomach, but also on your chest. Imagine the doctor coming up and having to explain to you that his surgical tech got a weak stomach and with scalpel in-hand, fell and put a puncture wound large enough for stitches on your chest. You would be shocked at the severe lack of professionalism by the surgical technologist, and you would question the hospitals inequity.

While shadowing my fellow upper cohorts during the clinic I had made many observations. Unfortunately I was only able to shadow one clinic, although I observed a lot. Marie was the first student that I was shadowing, she was the CA for the day. We started by stocking the cabinets with the necessities. Marie and I then took the dental tools out of the machines that cleaned, sterilized, and dried them. I was shown that there are two sides in the lab. What I mean by this is that the left side is a dirty side which you should always wear gloves so that you are always protected from the bacteria and germs that the tools carry. Everything on this side has to be handled carefully and you must always wash and sanitize your hands when you are through. The right side is the clean side where the tools and dental accessories are kept so that they stay clean and sterile. Next I was with Jennifer, although she had no patients that day due to a

Surgical Technologists have an important role in the operation room (OR). There are different positions within the Surgical Technology field, including Scrub Surgical Technologist, Circulating Surgical Technologist, and Second Assisting Technologist. Scrub Surgical Technologists have a number of tasks, including prepping the patient for surgery, sterilizing the OR, gown and glove surgeons and assistants, and assists the surgeon and other surgical team members in a number of ways, such as passing instruments and dressing wounds. Circulating Surgical Technologists have a number of tasks as well, including checking patient’s charts, identifying patient and verifying the surgery that will be performed with consent forms, assisting anesthesia

Put used gloves and gown in to yellow infectious waste bin, which should be either just inside the room or outside the door before leaving the room.

cross-infection. On account of this, after come into contact with the patient or any objects in the isolation room hands should have washed with liquid soap then thoroughly dried with soft paper hand towels. Alternatively, if no contact with body fluids has occurred, hands may be decontaminated using alcohol hand gel which is available at the end of the patient’s bed and outside isolation rooms (McKibben L, 2005). The following hand washing procedures are recommended.

The diagram from the WHO that illustrates ‘when’ to wash one’s hands will remind staff that there are many times to wash one’s hands, including after touching patient’s surroundings, which is frequently omitted for time saving purposes (World Health Organization, 2012). The visual diagrams from the WHO illustrate the hand washing and hand rubbing techniques and will clarify any misconceptions the staff may have about handwashing, as well as the use of hand sanitizers in the patient care area (World Health Organization, 2012). The video from the CDC demonstrating the actual handwashing technique in action will show the staff, in a real setting, how to wash their hands (Centers for Diseasse and Prevention (CDC), 2008). In addition, the wound illustrations identify a normal healthy cross-section of skin with each layer labeled, which will remind the staff that there are many layers of the dermis prior to reaching the bone; furthermore, the actual visualization of skin layers will reiterate the fact that decubitus ulcers have a dramatic affect on the client’s health and well-being. Decubitus ulcers heal very slowly and the prognosis is generally poor (National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, 2014). Moreover, the

* Hand washing is the most important method of preventing the spread of infection by contact (Ayliffe et al 1999). The Nottingham University Trust Policy on Hand Hygiene (2009) states that there are three types of hand hygiene, the first is ‘routine hand hygiene’ which involves the use of soap and water for 15 – 20 seconds or the application of alcohol hand rub until the hand are dry. The second is ‘hand disinfection’ which should be used prior to an aseptic procedure by washing with soap and water and applying alcohol hand rub afterwards. The third is ‘surgical hand washing’ which is the application of a microbial agent to the hands and wrists for two minutes. In addition to which a sterile, disposable brush may be used for the first surgical hand wash of the day although continued use will encourage colonisation of microbes. The third example is the most appropriate to any O.D.P undertaking the surgical role as it is the best way for the surgical team to eliminate transient flora and reduce resident skin flora (World Health Organization 2010). The first and second are important to any O.D.P undertaking any other role within the Operating Department as this is the best way to reduce the transient microbial flora without necessarily affecting the resident skin flora

The career of being a surgeon is one of the most elite professions in the world. Before the 1980’s, interns worked 120 hours a week without any rest. Due to this, many interns often experienced extreme exhaustion, fatigue, and could not promptly perform their job. After the death of Libby Zion, a patient who died after entering a hospital and the intern on the clock not responding in time due to exhaustion, the ACGME ratified a law which only allowed an intern to work a maximum of 80 hours a week with the same amount of pay and to introduce the use of night floats. In Challenging Operations: Medical Reform and Resistance in Surgery, Kellogg studies three different hospitals’ (Advent, Bayshore, and Calhoun) reactions to the new regulations.