My Adventure in the OR as a Unit Secretary (Video)

In the above video, I'll share my adventure in the OR supply room, a place I had never been to, but the two surgeons depended on me.

In the ICU, the Neurosurgeon decided to perform a bedside procedure on the patient. He had a General/Vascular surgeon in the room with him. They realized that they needed a piece of equipment, which was located in the main Operating Room's supply closet.  

It was a Sunday afternoon, and the main OR and ICU were running on a skeleton crew. Only one person could leave the unit to get the part.

Me.

But I had never been down in the main OR, let alone to the supply room, but there I was gowning up and taking the special elevator down. 

I could hear people talking as they were performing surgery. 

I found the supply room and walked in. I knew the name of what I was looking for, but after what seemed like forever, I couldn't find it.   

I took the elevator back up to the ICU and placed a housecall to an OR Tech I know. She had worked down in the main OR when times were slow in the other OR. She knew the equipment's location and was willing to talk to me about it. 

So, I grabbed a portable hospital telephone, gowned up again, and took the special elevator back down to the OR. 

Even though the reception was fuzzy, she talked me to the equipment needed. I grabbed two different sizes, and up the elevator, I went. 

I took it into the patient's room, where everyone was waiting. That's when the General/Vascular Surgeon realized they needed something else from the supply room!

But this time, he decided to go with me because he knew exactly what it was called and what it looked like. 

So together, the two of us gowned up and rode the elevator down to the OR. It did take us a minute to find it, but we did.

All in all, I spent about an hour, from the first time I went down to the last time I could finally sit back down and answer the ringing telephone.