Med Student Describes Surgery Rotation

Have you ever had surgery? I have. It is estimated that the average American will undergo approximately 9 operations in their lifetime.

Procedures include common operations such as appendectomy (appendix removal), cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal), and less common operations such as intestine removal due to cancer or other causes. I am currently rotating in general surgery at Samaritan Pacific Hospital in Newport.

It is incredible! I have already learned a lot about surgery in the first week that I have been here. Some big takeaways from week one are people who work in surgery (surgeons, operating room nurses, scrub techs, anesthetists, and an entire host of others) work hard, they are smart, are always there when you need them, and they love what they do!


Surgeons work hard. No surprise here. Completing more than five years of residency after medical school, surgeons are some of the most trained and skilled as they come. In addition to clinic hours, and managing patients in the hospital before and after surgery, they also spend an incredible amount of time in the operating room, and are on call 24 hours a day in case of emergencies.

There is no room for error when lives are on the line. As no two people are the same, every operation is a little different, and therefore difficult to perform.

With the advent of laparoscopic surgery (a small hole is made in the belly for a camera, two other small holes are created for the surgeon to insert grasping instruments, this minimizes the size of the incision needed during surgery) surgeons must learn to operate on something that they can only see via a two dimensional camera, that is held by a medical student, which is where I come in.

Operating a camera inside someone’s abdomen is not as easy as it sounds! Even this part requires a completely sterile field in order to prevent infection. In addition to the surgery, anesthetists must control the patient's breathing, and scrub techs and OR nurses must keep track of every instrument, cloth, and suture used during the operation.



The OR team is always there when you need them, day or night. Most people will probably only think about an OR team maybe once in their lifetime, but the OR team is thinking about surgery about a third of their life, as this is about how often they are on call.


When on call everyone on the team must be ready to go within 30 minutes of an emergency. The main thing that this means is that when you are on call you cannot go snowboarding, surfing, biking or engage in activity with your family outside of a 10-mile radius outside the hospital. When a call comes, everyone springs into action without a moment to lose.

It really is an incredible thing to watch, an OR getting prepped for surgery. Every movement is orchestrated and executed with exact purpose. Perhaps it is the challenge, perhaps it is the adrenaline rush, perhaps it is the opportunity to truly make an impact in another’s life in a time of desperation, these people love what they do!

Can you blame them? Surgeons and staff certainly give up a lot, but it is certainly rewarding to be on the front line of saving lives. Thank you Dr. Larsen, Dr. Hewitt, Dr. Wilson, and everyone at Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital, for the chance to learn from you, and for the chance to experience first-hand and glimpse into your incredible reality.

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