Last week I managed to impress the scrub tech in a very unique way.
I went to scrub in on another ortho case.* Prior to the case starting, a few residents and I were looking at x-rays on a computer in the OR. One of them needed a pen, so I dug out my purse from its awesome hiding place to get one.
Long story short, in this particular hospital, there are no locker rooms. So there is no place to store personal belongings such as backpacks, wallets, keys, etc. The residents tend to bring them into the OR and stash them under a table in the corner of the room. By stash, I mean hide them from the OR staff and attendings. I'd been instructed to do the same, albeit a bit more stealthily since I'm even lower on the totem pole than they are.
Before I could put my purse back, I got caught red-handed.
Scrub Tech: "What is that?"
Me, panicking: "I was just getting a pen for Dr. T."
ST: "Is that a pocketbook?"
Me: "Umm..."
ST, seemingly amused: "You are the first person I have ever seen bring a pocketbook into the OR."
She had a point. I did look rather ridiculous with a cross-body shoulder bag over my hospital green scrubs standing in the middle of the OR. So even though I failed at being stealthy, at least I gave them a good laugh.
The funniest part of this is that I bought my first purse only last year. I never used them before.
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* In the fall, I got hooked up with an awesome ortho resident who has taken me under her wing and has introduced me to the wonderful world of surgery. With her, I've scrubbed in on several cases and I try to go in as often as I can. This was yet another great case. More details on this in a later post. It's been an incredible experience.
