Essay Sample on Humor in the Operating Room: A Creative Short Story

Creative Short Story/Essay: Humor in the Operating Room:

It is often believed that the OPERATING ROOM (OP) is one place that is enveloped with an aura of seriousness, so much so that even surgeons cannot have a hearty laugh while attending to a serious life saving procedure such as CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFTING. Unfortunately, no! In fact, humor is an ingredient that is more than cherished. I have been an operating room nurse for the past five years. Even though we deal with tons of stress, it’s a rewarding profession filled with fun.

Just before I celebrated my thirtieth birthday, I was working with a CARDIOLOGIST surgeon. He was always dapper, in and out of the hospital. There is a day he slipped and had to land with his hand off the ground just to make sure that his HOEMOSTATIC Kelly forceps remained STERILE, only to get on his feet and ask the whole room, “Am I still sterile?”

I could barely catch my breath, everybody laughed. Luckily, the patient remained stable despite the loss of precious seconds and the INTRAVENOUS injection of APROTININ and DESMOPRESSIN helped in lowering HYPERTENSION and preventing ANGINA. As for his free fall, we got him a prescription of DEMEROL to wish the pain away. The OP is always closed during operation and therefore it is equipped with all necessary PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. No need to say, the forceps; now infested with PATHOGENS found its way to our modern front-loading AUTOCLAVE.

Just a few weeks ago in the UROLOGY room, an ANAESTHESIA provider; who has a tight schedule so much so that you’d think he never lives the hospital, asked a new OP nurse to go get some TAMPONS and GAUZE and the nurse looked up rather quizzically wondering why the anesthetist wanted a ‘tampon’. She never knew that what the provider wanted was an adsorbent plug of cotton to help in absorbing blood from the wound.

On a more serious note, most of you have heard about the negative effects of too much dietary CHOLESTEROL and its role in ATHEROSCLEROSIS, CARDIAC ARREST and a host of other CARDIOVASCULAR diseases. The effects of unhealthy eating habits and lack of physical exercise are what we have to deal with in the operating theatre everyday. It is better to be wise and adopt a healthy lifestyle.