How can I get inside an OR? Pangolin? =]] (I can tell you have great answers!)

Question

{I am 15 years old}

I have volunteered my time twice a week for two 8-hour shifts in the recovery room at a major hospital in my area.

I love love love everything about medicine, and I really hope to one day become a surgeon. I love all aspects of science, and study anatomy like crazy in my spare time. Even in the RR, I love seeing all of the medical issues and watching what the doctors/nurses do. It is just getting to be routine for me, and I want to see more! I know a surgeon of my mom's but she is a breast surgeon (and I don't know if that would be something I would be allowed to observe). I also am familiar with quite a few other surgeons, but I don't know how to approach anyone about actually observing a surgery.

I want to observe a surgery so badly it is not even funny!!!! I have a huge passion for this, and want to pursue it even further!

Also, any tips on becoming a surgeon...?

I love the exhilaration that comes along with treating patients, and I just want to see how an OR works and everything!!!!!!! =]] thanks to anyone who answers!

Answer 1

I love your enthusiasm but it's hard to say if a surgeon will let you in the OR. The less people in the OR the better for the patient. Everyone who comes in is a potential risk for contamination and there are liability and patient privacy issues to consider especially because you would be an untrained observer who is unfamiliar with asceptic techniques and sterile procedure guidelines. You might be able to get in if you have a scrub tech teach you sterile technique, what you can/cannot touch, where you should stand, & when you can/should ask question or speak. You might even get someone to teach you how to scrub in. You would definetely earn brownie points with a surgeon you know if you learn everything you can about the procedure (anatomy, indications for the procedure, the disease process, possible complications) and be able to dazzle her/him with your knowlege. A surgeon would be far more likely to let you observe an office procedure or a non-sterile one. You might have a shot of observing a laparoscopic procedure though because you could actually stand pretty far away and still see the monitor or stand next to the anesthesiologist behind the drape. Maybe you should hit up the ER doctors and see if they will let you observe some of the procedures that they do. I hate to say it because I think it's so cool that you want to get in the OR but, I think your chances of getting to be there during an open surgery of any kind would be pretty slim without patient consent, someone to supervise you the whole time, and a hospital policy that would even allow it.

Answer 2

The easiest would be if you were a blood relative of a surgeon or one of your closest friends is related to a surgeon. But if not, one of your best shots is to simply ask one of the surgeons you kind of know if you can show up and see an actual surgery.

Does the person that does breast surgery do plastic surgery or is this person an OB/GYN? I'd see you having some problems getting into an OB/GYN operation because you're not even a med student, but maybe a plastic surgeon might have other operations that you can go and see.

I started going to see operations as a med student and most fictional tv shows seem to get things wrong (Nip/Tuck loves to contaminate the OR and in that show there is no passing nurse or however you call that position who doesn't dress up in sterile clothes and mostly just retrieves sterile materials when the surgeon requests it).

Dr. 90210 shows what real surgery looks like pretty realistically on tv to give you an idea. However, they mostly focus on breast implants which can get boring after a while in my opinion.

You'll need scrubs (maybe someone can borrow you one if you don't have one) and if a surgeon let's you in, he'll have to explain at which place you're supposed to put on the sock things you put on your shoes (we call them botas in spanish), something to pull up your hair and a facemask. Don't touch anything that's sterile (surgeon gown, gloves, operating table and the instruments).

Since you haven't taken a surgery course and thus know how to keep the OR clean, chances are you'll only be able to see the operation from real far away and won't be able to wash up and do anything that has action because you don't know how. If there's only 4 people, you'll probably still see a lot. If not, you won't see anything that goes on which will get boring after 2 hours (I've been to operations that lasted a good 3 hours, ack!).

Very different from other ops I've been to, I went to an eye surgery operation once where I could see the operation in a front row seat because the operation was being screened on a tv set in the OR. Had no idea what was going on, but it was pretty cool.. and bloody.

I find oncology surgery to be the most fun to watch as a bystander. Trauma & Orthopedics surgery is pretty fun to watch, but a real pain if they ask you to wash up because you have to lift the patient's arm or leg up for hours without moving with an x-ray shooting radiation in your face (sometimes I'd be able to grab one of those lead aprons to protect you from radiation if I was lucky, but they are clunky and really uncomfortable to wear >_< ).

Since it seems like you live in the US if you do get invited to an operation without being a med student, chances are it will be via laparoscopy. If the OP is shown on a tv screen, you'll see a lot, but if not, you won't see a thing.

Answer 3

You'll need a willing surgeon. You'll also need the permission of both the hospital administration and the patient. There's no reason to be hesitant about asking, though. Go to administration to have it cleared first. Your supervisor can probably help with that. Then just ask a surgeon. The stereotypical surgeon will blast you, but that's just a stereotype, and many are really nice guys, and many of them would enjoy doing a little informal teaching. When you get to medical school, you'll have to develop a thick skin to deal with faculty egos, so you may as well get started on that project now as well. They can say no, and they can be rude, but they aren't allowed to kill and eat you.