Why do Surgeons Tend to Panic in Theater Rooms?

An operating theater, also known as an operating room (OR), is a hospital facility where surgical operations are performed in an aseptic environment.

It is the most complicated and fragile workplace where two coequal physicians share responsibility for one patient. Thus, surgeons and nurses working in operating rooms tend to panic.

The volatility of an operating room

Operating rooms are the most complex and volatile workplaces in health care settings. Thus, surgeons operating in the theater rooms tend to panic in most cases due to inevitable surgical errors.

No matter the health facility or practice, operating room issues are likely to arise. The issues can act as barriers to the safety of both patients and the surgical teams.

Primary factors causing panic in theater rooms

Surgical errors

Panic refers to the sudden uncontrollable fear resulting in anxiety. Life is sacred; hence, surgeons do their best in the theater rooms to save lives.

However, errors are inevitable in any surgical procedure since nurses and surgeons are prone to errors. Despite the numerous patient safety measures, surgical errors remain relatively high.

Surgeons tend to panic in operating rooms because these surgical errors can cause problems. For example, when a patient reports an error that could have been avoided if the attending surgeon exercised caution.

Surgical errors are inevitable; however, they can be prevented. In most cases, when a surgery goes wrong, medical malpractice can be the repercussion on surgeons operating theater rooms.

In most cases, surgeons operating theaters are the root cause of surgical errors. Thus, surgeons panic due to fear of the unknown and possible errors.

These errors can be prevented by having an effective system to identify and correct the mistakes when they occur.

Types of surgical errors

a) Leaving a surgical tool in a patient’s body

Surgeons make significant surgical mistakes like leaving a surgical tool in a patient’s body; thus, risking a patient’s life. Leaving a surgical tool inside a patient’s body requires a second surgery to remove the left item(s). Surgeons and nurses working in theater rooms can panic because of this.

b) Anesthesia complications

In most cases, patients undergoing surgery are given anesthesia to curb pain during surgery. However, anxiety can arise in the surgical room if a patient is given the wrong anesthesia dosage. Panic can also be experienced in surgical rooms if a patient is allergic to the given anesthesia.

c) Damage to other body organs (s)

Surgical operations are invasive; hence, there is a high likelihood that other body organs can be interfered with during delicate procedures. This can cause panic since the responsible surgeon can be sued for medical malpractice.

Repositioning of overhead surgical lights

Most surgeons and nurses understand the frustrations of constantly repositioning lights in theater rooms. The practice causes panic since it interrupts surgical procedures.

A recent study indicated that every seven minutes of overhead illumination demands an illumination action of adjusting an overhead light. The research disclosed that surgeons performed three-quarters of these luminaire actions; thus, interrupting their operations.

The finding demonstrated that a four-hour surgical operation in a standard theater room requires a surgeon to reposition the overhead lights approximately 33 times.

Most surgeons and nurses complain about this practice since it interrupts surgical operations and can cause errors. Therefore, it makes them panic.

Health facilities can benchmark this underlying challenge in surgical rooms for a given duration by tracking daily adjustment time during every procedure. It can be done through

- Recording instances when the overhead lights were adjusted

- Duration of each adjustment

- The surgical team staff adjusting the lights

- The times that the surgical procedures were interrupted because of overhead light adjustments

Safety concerns

Safety issues are pertinent considerations in operating rooms since a significant quantity of clutter and limited space can leave surgeons and nurses panicking.

Most contemporary operating rooms (OR) have limited space ranging from 300 to 500 square feet. Therefore, most of them cannot comfortably house the advanced medical equipment used in modern theater rooms.

As a result, surgeons working in theater rooms are likely to panic over safety concerns. Limited space also causes time wastage since it is estimated that an average of 13 minutes is spent locating missing equipment in operating rooms.