The Right Tool for the Job

Yesterday, I paid $40 for a spatula and I don’t regret a single penny.

You see, my husband is a fabulous cook. If it weren’t for him, I would be alive only by the grace of Spaghetti-Os and boxed mac and cheese. This being said, my husband likes to cook at one temperature: scorching. (If he were on Star Trek, his phaser would be permanently set to “kill.”) We had non-stick pans and he took it as a personal challenge to disprove the efficacy of Teflon…and won. After trying to scrub charred nastiness off of supposedly non-stick pans, we discovered there might be more Teflon in our food than on our pans so we switched to stainless steel.

This was a great decision until we realized that:

Plastic spatula + scorching heat + metal pan=melted plastic all over expensive stainless steel pans

I read online that metal utensils would solve this issue so I field-tripped around until I found a beautiful, heavy-duty stainless steel spatula at Williams-Sonoma. This spatula has changed my life. No more scraping burnt plastic, no more fighting to flip eggs. It’s funny to say, but a $40 spatula has done more to lower my stress level than my last 3 years of therapy. It just goes to show, there’s always a right tool for the job.

Surgery has it’s own set of tools and each one has it’s own particular use. When I started in surgery and I had to do vascular cases, I didn’t know the nuances of vascular instruments and would often mistake a Debakey clamp for a Cooley clamp (or something like that). The surgeon would get all huffy and while part of me knew that it wasn’t what they’d asked for, another part of me thought “Geeze. They’re almost identical. Can’t they just use what I gave them?” As I gained experience, I began to understand why surgeons needed specific instruments. A slight difference in curve from a Kelly to a Mosquito clamp could be just enough to get around a pesky artery. A Hoke with its shorter length is easier to maneuver than a regular osteotome when working in the limited space in a foot joint.

Every surgeon does things differently and each patient’s anatomy presents its own unique set of challenges. Even as you learn surgeons’ preferences, you will still find yourself adjusting to the specifics of each case. What works on a 30-year-old athletic male may not work for an 80-year-old osteoporotic female. In these situations, the unofficial surgeon motto “give me what I need, not what I asked for” comes into play. Over time, you’ll start to recognize problem areas and can make recommendations when appropriate.

Nothing is more frustrating than watching a surgeon struggle to accomplish something with an ineffective instrument when you’ve got a better solution in your hand. I once watched a surgeon try to remove a stripped screw with a screwdriver for about 30 minutes. I was new and unfamiliar with the system we were using (so I was basically worthless). Mercifully, a rep jumped in suggesting an alternative instrument and the screws were out in 10 minutes. (Why he didn’t jump in sooner, I’ll never know. Damn sadistic reps…)

So whatever your specialty: know your instruments, learn your procedures, and keep your eyes on the field. If you know your stuff, your surgeons will soon learn that whatever they’re doing, a good surgical tech is always the right tool for the job.

Until next time, stay sterile, my friends.