Never Touch a Surgeon’s Table
I’m a surgical tech, and we were doing a skin graft on a burn patient. In those types of surgeries, you have two different operative sites if you’re taking the skin graft from the patient. This means I have two surgical teams going. I have attending surgeons, residents, and medical students all working alongside.
If you work in surgery, you know that unless you’re the tech, YOU DO NOT TOUCH THEIR TABLE OR ANYTHING ON IT. You have to keep the skin moist until it’s ready to be transplanted on the site. I wrap mine in damp sponges and keep it on my table. I bet you can see where this is going.
I turn back to my table and the sponge is gone. A resident told me my table was “too cluttered” and he threw it in the trash. I’ve never had to scold a doctor so bad in my life. Since the skin was not sterile, we had to use cadaver skin, and you know who pays for that? The PATIENT. SucculentOwl