Almost never, cuz by the time I usually see the patient they’re a few minutes away from being unconscious, and are being dog-piled by a pit-crew of nurses and anesthesiologists. I’ll turn around for a quick hello, then return to setting up my sterile field so everything’s ready for the surgeon.
Mohs cases are a totally different world: the case itself is super simple, so I have a lot more autonomy due to not being preoccupied with the setup, which takes all of about 30 seconds. I don’t like to just stand there waiting for the doc, so I’ll usually just butt into whatever my scope as a tech allows, which usually means taking vitals and making non-clinical interventions like tackling their anxiety by distracting them with stupid jokes or music.
I’ve only had a couple of opportunities to do something like that in the regular OR.
Almost never, cuz by the time I usually see the patient they’re a few minutes away from being unconscious, and are being dog-piled by a pit-crew of nurses and anesthesiologists. I’ll turn around for a quick hello, then return to setting up my sterile field so everything’s ready for the surgeon.
Mohs cases are a totally different world: the case itself is super simple, so I have a lot more autonomy due to not being preoccupied with the setup, which takes all of about 30 seconds. I don’t like to just stand there waiting for the doc, so I’ll usually just butt into whatever my scope as a tech allows, which usually means taking vitals and making non-clinical interventions like tackling their anxiety by distracting them with stupid jokes or music.
I’ve only had a couple of opportunities to do something like that in the regular OR.