Melissa Rule Art 2050-002

It was the first day of this particular clinical rotation and the nursing student was excited. She had been in nursing school for 6 months now and still had not figured out what specialty she wanted to work in once she graduated. Perhaps this would be it; maybe surgery would be where she wanted to specialize. The morning started the way all new rotations normally do; she was introduced to the supervisor of the surgery unit and received the dos and donts for that particular unit. She expected to be given a load of paperwork and told to go sit in the corner and work quietly, just like all the other rotations. She expected to wait a few days then be allowed to watch a surgery through the glass pane window. But today, she would be surprised. Once finished with the orientation, the supervisor handed the student a slip of paper. It contained the unit #, the surgeons name and the procedure to be done, breast reduction. The student was escorted to the surgical unit, a tech helped her put on the gown, gloves, and mask then she was showed into the operating room. A large woman was lying on the surgical table already knocked out from the anesthesia. The surgeon explained that the womans breast were so large that she was having terrible back pain so they were going to remove some of the excess adipose tissue. He stated when he was done she would go down to a D cup from a DD. The surgeon had used a marker on the womans chest to mark where he wanted to cut and he began to cut the skin. Initially, the student felt a little faint. She had never before seen someone be cut open. Surprisingly, there wasnt much blood. Strange she thought It must be because

of it being so cold in here. The nursing student watched as the surgeon pulled out a new tool. It looked like the soldering irons that kids in woodcutting class in high school use to write words in wood. The student wondered why the surgeon would be using such a tool. As he began using it, the surgeon explained that he had to use heat to cauterize the blood vessels as he removed the tissue. Makes sense thought the student. Then it hit her! The vilest smell she had ever encountered. She immediately had to hold back from hurling (one of the donts were never vomit in the OR). That smell, it was a cross of rotten meat, sour milk, and a dirty babys diaper left out in the sun! She had never smelled anything so disgusting! The student quickly ran out of the OR. She made it into the restroom, just in time. The student vomited for what seemed like forever. Every time she thought of the smell, she retched again. Once finished, she tried to wash the smell from her skin and out of her nose. As she stood dripping water into the sink, the nursing instructor came in to check on her. She asked the instructor, Do all surgeries involve cauterizing human flesh? The instructor answered that most surgeries involve at least some cauterizing. At the end of the day, as she left the hospital, the nursing student thought to herself, Well, at least I know Im not going to specialize in surgeries!