Setup Your Operating Theatre Like a Cockpit
When you're in the operating theatre make sure you setup your end of the theatre like a cockpit. If you like, you can draw epaulettes onto your scrubs.
Make sure you can see ALL your equipment from the vantage point of the Chair of Anaesthesia. This includes urine bag, convection warmer, syringe drivers, fluid warmer, everything.
If you can't see it, then it is bound to stop working and it may take some time for you to realise it. Scan from one side to the other at regular intervals to make sure it's all functioning.
Label your volume lines with the cannula size. Label your infusion lines with the drug. Label your injection port with the deadspace.
This may all sound a bit over the top, but it's important in complicated cases, and it can really help you, and the helpers you have called, in a crisis.
Picture: Liver transplant operating theatre. From left to right: Anaesthetic machine, continuous cardiac output monitor with mixed venous saturation, defibrillator, fluid warmer, patient, urine bag, NG bag, fluid management system with cell saver, infusion pumps, TOE.
[L Doolan]
