Have you ever gone to work in an operating room?
Surgery cannot be performed alone. In fact it takes a troop of people who trust one another enough to work together to be successful.
It can feel like you’re in a war zone during surgery, so it’s imperative to trust the soldiers alongside you in the trenches.
You don’t necessarily need to be thick as thieves with your coworkers, but if you can leave your baggage at the door to work towards the common goal of a safe and successful surgery for your patient, success should follow.
The other operating suites in my clinic are dysfunctional.
In one, there’s this sleazy surgeon who tells everyone to call him “Shooter,” presumably to convince everyone he’s packing heat. He’s constantly trying to scoop up this gorgeous nurse he hired privately, which she doesn’t appreciate. Meanwhile, their cryptic anesthesiologist is only concerned with sending the patient on their way to the next phase of care.
That surgeon is flirting too much for the nurse and anesthesiologist to trust him on the job.
In another suite, this doctor who’s obsessed with treating his diabetic patients with gastric bypass surgeries and his narcotic-diverting anesthesiologist torture their nurse by sending him on arduous journeys to the clean core for out-of-stock supplies, nearly killing him while they competitively dole out sedatives like candy.
Those quarreling doctors mess with that nurse way too much for him to ever trust either of them.
Then there’s the doctor in the suite adjacent to mine. He’s not a real doctor, and he performs experimental brain surgery with this blind anesthesiologist who thinks he’s training his fellow, but it’s actually just the nurse. It’s a painful situation.
The anesthesiologist trusts everyone in blind faith, but that sketchy doctor is untrustworthy, and the nurse doesn’t trust either doctor because he sees what’s going on.
As you could imagine, it’s absolute chaos during the cases in those three rooms.
No one truly trusts one-another, and their patients suffer from that lack of trust.
My suite, on the other hand, has the highest patient survival rate in Arcadia.
My brilliant anesthesiologist distracts our patients with a dazzling show unlike they’ve ever seen before, drawing their blood and controlling their airways, taking their breath away at will.
And his anesthesia tech, his “little birdie” as he calls him, flies on his every whim, and does all the dirty work for him despite the tech’s hatred towards him and his abuse of power.
That leaves Nurse Frightengale and I to work in tandem to provide the best possible outcome for our patient on the table.
Despite our feelings towards one another, we put it all aside when we are in the trenches together.
And when chaos ensues at War Forged, we are the team with the best chance to survive the fight:
We are battle-tested.
And soon, one of our’s shot at the OSW World Championship will be war-forged.
It’s time put our trust in each other to the test.
Now take a deep breath, and close your eyes…
See you on the other side, soldiers.