Technically speaking, she’s instrumental: Marry technology and technician and you have the heart of a surgical technologist

Surgical technologist Liz Smith assisting orthopedic surgeon Dr. Christopher Foetisch (left) during a shoulder resurfacing operation at Flower Hospital in Sylvania, Ohio.

BY MICHELE HOWE

Special to The Evening News

SYLVANIA, Ohio — Liz Smith was the child who was always taking apart the vacuum cleaner and putting it back together. Even now, as an adult, she says she still fixes things around her own home, easy — for her.

Ms. Smith is one of those rare individuals who understands the principles of how technology works yet is equally skilled as the technician who utilizes medical instruments to assist any number of surgeons from a variety of surgical specialties day in and day out.

Liz Smith is a certified surgical technologist, or CST, at Flower Hospital.

Her role requires her to bring both extensive physiological and anatomical understanding together with swift calls of judgment, anticipating what instruments are needed at every point in a procedure, and precision, selecting the exact instruments and tools best suited to get the job done and choosing those preferred by each surgeon she works alongside.

This is no simple task considering the sheer number of instruments and tools available to Ms. Smith from the hospital’s inhouse store of surgical trays as well as those brought in by outside suppliers for operations involving replacement parts.

This dynamic Owens Technical College graduate considered different areas of medicine before focusing on surgical technology.

Ms. Smith’s natural love of the sciences and her innate mechanical ability make the perfect combination for her career choice as a surgical tech, who daily offers her talents to provide the highest level of patient care while working elbow to elbow with surgeons.

Truly, Ms. Smith’s contributions, along with every other surgical staff member, enable the doctors to successfully do their parts in the operating room.

A surgical tech not only hands instruments and tools to the surgeon as he requests them, she is constantly watching the movements of everyone in the room so that a sterile environment is maintained throughout the procedure. Her eagle eye keeps patients and staff safe.

Working 10-hour shifts, Ms. Smith’s days frequently begin early as she comes in at least 30 minutes before her first case to look over the surgeries she’s been assigned to cover for the day.

She makes sure her trays are properly equipped and makes note of any special requirements or add-ons needed for the patient and the surgeon.

Once Ms. Smith is satisfied everything is set up and prepared perfectly, her rigorous work day starts in earnest. Standing long hours, focused and alert, is not only physically exhausting, it is mentally depleting as well.

Considering how quickly Ms. Smith must shift gears from one type of surgery to the next, I asked her how does a surgical tech ever get comfortable working in a such a highly charged, ever-changing environment. She admits that it took her a good year’s time (she’s been at Flower Hospital for five years) before she stopped operating on “nerve” and felt more relaxed in her position.

Even now as she teaches students entering the field how to become capable surgical techs, Ms. Smith continues to rely on a few basic principles that she used to she develop her own expertise.

Whether new to the field or as a seasoned tech (like herself), students are advised to go back to the basics of what they’ve been taught about anatomy, sterile technique and instrument function. She assures students in training that when they thoroughly grasp how the body functions, this knowledge will aid them in making efficient and effective OR decisions.

She also strongly advises techs to develop and hone their listening skills. Liz shares that she is constantly alert and tuned in to what the surgeon (and others) are saying so that she can better anticipate what they need her to do next.

Watching Ms. Smith work, I can attest to the fact that she’s an expert at this skill of intuitively knowing what’s going to be asked of her (and from her) well before a verbal request is spoken.

This seamless movement that unfolds between the surgeon and the surgical tech is vital to minimizing delays in the procedure that otherwise could keep the patient under anesthesia for a longer time period.

Ms. Smith recognizes that the smoother and more efficient she “operates,” the better for the sake of the patient.

When patients say they were given great care after a medical procedure or a hospital stay, a mental picture comes to mind of a gentle (typically female) figure hovering over the ailing individual in almost angelic fashion. While there’s some measure of truth to this timeless portrayal of sensitive ministrative care, there’s an equally important case to be made for the type of robust, active element of healing that occurs solely in the operating room.

Without an entire team of highly skilled, highly dedicated medical professionals working in concert with each other, the sick and injured among us would stay that way and no amount of passive hand-holding would make a long-term difference in their lives.

While some might say a procedure is routine, Ms. Smith is continually reminded that when you are responsible for people’s lives, it’s never business as usual.

In truth, there is no “routine” when medical professionals are responsible for managing individuals’ health and at times, hold lives in their hands. Thus it is with intentional, focused attention that medical care is given inside the confines of the OR every single hour of every day.

That commitment to excellent care, along with an almost tangible respect, is constantly maintained (guarded even) for the patient, the family and for one’s fellow colleagues who work together to make a positive difference in the lives of everyone who enters their operating room.

The Gift of a Good Death: When the Heart is Unconquerable

Four and a half years ago we received the news that my father in law was dying of esophageal cancer.

We heard the news at our grandfather’s funeral.

So while grieving the loss of one well-loved man, we were simultaneously projecting ahead to the loss of another well-loved man.

It was one of those moments when feelings get all mixed up with facts and everything sort of blurs together.

During the following five months (the final five months of his life), my father in law (a man who had struggled with depression for his entire adult life), fought the good fight.

Physically.
Emotionally.
Spiritually.

He underwent every chemo and radiation process with more courage (and never a complaint) than I can imagine myself enduring.

I marveled at how well he accepted, first his terminal diagnosis, and second, the grueling treatment plan that only promised to add a few brief months to his life.

For a man so given to long bouts of emotional despair, I feared the worst for him. But I was never more wrong.

Beyond explanation, he seemed to thrive during those precious last weeks and months on earth. I was able to spend considerable time with my father in law driving him back and forth to radiation treatments, to doctor’s appointments, or just to run errands.

Even now, I still shake my head in amazement that this man whom I had known intimately for over twenty-five years could (and would) endure a certain death with such poise and peace.

Rather than us comforting him, he comforted us.

There was such grace (the kind only God can supply) during those terrible hours of suffering. The memory of these precious moments (and conversations) can still stop me in my tracks when something reminds me of how much I gained personally from walking closely with him as he died (and every day he died a bit more).

This week I was reminded.

I was sent a review book that reminded me of my father in law. Specifically, it made me think that the last good gift he gave each of us was his death. A good death.

I can’t adequately express how I felt when I read these words, but let me share this author’s insight on how dying can truly be a “good gift.”

Samuel Wells in Be Not Afraid writes –

The gift of a good death, that last and most precious gift one can give one’s family, friends, and society, is fundamentally a witness of patience and courage. Patience to accept one’s powerlessness to change the past, and courage to open one’s life to the overwhelming unknown of the future. Patience to live with one’s humanity, and courage to face God’s divinity. That is what it means to make a final offering of a good death.

While my father in law never looked at how he was dying in these terms, somehow, his patience (with the horrifying painful process) and his courage (to face death itself) was remarkable. So much so, that I remember with far greater fondness how he died than how he lived.

In every way, he gave us a “very good gift.”

Denise4health – Friends, Family and Your Breast Cancer Diagnosis

I added a link this morning that I never wanted to include (not on my site, not happening to my friend.)

Several weeks ago, a very dear friend (one of those friends who can finish your thoughts or your sentences for you friends,) found out she has cancer.

Breast cancer.

In all honesty, I didn’t know what to think. What to feel.

Then, in the mix of tears and sorrow and complete sadness…my thoughts started roaming from my friend’s cancer and her courageous response to this news…to wondering how I would deal with this diagnosis? How would I cope? Respond? Feel?

What changes would I make (practically and philosophically) in my life?

I had so many questions and precious few answers.

These were troublesome thoughts that just kept jumping around the periphery of my mind all day long and I was waking up a lot at night thinking (and praying) too.

Then yesterday morning I received an email from my friend announcing her new blog titled, Denise4health.

Love it!!!!!!

You can imagine I set aside what I was doing, clicked on her site and devoured every post she had written.

I laughed.
I cried.
I learned some things.
I found myself getting all my questions answered.

This blog comforted me!

I hope you’ll take a few moments to read Denise4health for yourself.

I can assure you –

You will laugh.
You will cry.
You will learn some things.
You will find some answers you’re looking for (or maybe you didn’t realize you had.)

Lots of people write about their challenges in life. There are lots out there on women who have gone through breast cancer.

But everything changes when it happens to someone you love.

I’m not so interested in “other people’s stories” right now.

Right now, I am only concerned with my friend and her journey.

How grateful I am she is willing to share it with me through words.

Making Faces — Dealing with the Messiness of Teamwork (with a smile on your face)

This is the season when buying pumpkins reaches its peak. Many folks look forward to their yearly tradition of pumpkin carving and my family is no exception.

Each fall we buy a selection of these roly-poly orange gourds, spread out lots of newspaper on the picnic table, hand out sharp knives, large spoons, and have at it.

It isn’t long before someone asks for a marker…they remember from previous years it’s always better to design the face before you start cutting. Smart.

Better to figure out what you want, plan ahead, and then begin the actual process.

Pumpkin carving is a fun but messy business. A lot like trying to get a job done that involves working smoothly with other people.

Making a plan…you gotta have it.

Otherwise, you end up lots of mess (inside and out) and not much to show for all your effort.

Henry Ford once asked, “Why is it that I always get the whole person when what I really want is a pair of hands?”

While comical, Ford’s quip is frequently what people who want to get a job done are secretly thinking.

The truth is, high achievers don’t want people to get in the way of what they want to do…and they sometimes let it show (on their faces.)

As author John Maxwell notes -

Relationships are messy. Many leaders would rather deal with people only in terms of their work life. But the reality is that when you lead someone, you always get the whole person – including their dysfunctions, home life, health issues, and quirks.

Even though many leaders lament the “messiness” of learning to work with people (as whole individuals) when they develop a longer-angled vision which extends further than the immediate project, it pays off.

Unlike short-sighted leaders who sacrifice the relationships with their colleagues, good leaders are those who in Maxwell’s words –

Good leaders are able to look at hard truths, see people’s flaws, face reality, and do it in a spirit of grace and truth. They don’t avoid problems, they solve them.

Guest Post — HR Advocate/Joan Canning — 13 Actions That Signal Bullying

When we think of bullying the most common scenario is a children’s playground where one child is getting picked on by another child (or group of kids.)

This painful mental picture generally puts a shudder in even the most resilient adult.

Why so?

The truth is almost everyone has been the victim of some kind of malicious remark or behavior or “bullying” (as either a child and/or adult.)

Which is why this guest post by HR Advocate Joan Canning is so important.

Canning reports in her work as an HR Advocate that over 14 million adults say they have been victims of bullying in their workplace. Watch Canning’s video on this subject for more information on how to detect bullying and put an end to it here.

Not sure what constitutes workplace bullying?

Read on…

13 actions that signal workplace bullying

1.Slander
2.Name calling
3.Yelling
4.Comments about appearance or lifestyle
5.Teasing
6.Threats or intimidation
7.Unfair criticism
8.Ignoring
9.Aggression
10.Physical assaults
11.Unreasonable work assignments
12.Menial task assignments
13.Gossiping

Remember — Bullying is an “equal opportunity” victimizer…both sexes deal with its harmful effects in workplaces across the country.

Hold ‘em Poker (and other lifechanging games)

Yesterday my son invited me to take a ride on his motorcycle.

I said yes.

This is significant.

Why?

Because…like every word in the English language…the phrase “take a ride” is elastic and subject to personal interpretation.

My definition of a ride is putting on a helmet and taking a slow jaunt (under 20 mph) down to the lake (under 300 yards) and back.

My son defines “taking a ride” differently.

Fast, not slow.
Miles, not yards.

By anyone’s definition, I hung on for dear life.

In fact, all my efforts to “keep a poker face” were unsuccessful. He wasn’t buying my “bluff” because I was giving myself away at every turn (on the road.)

What were the clues that I was “showing my hand?”

I knew (he knew) how scared I was when my son told me I didn’t have to hang onto him so tightly (sorry, but yes, Honey, I do…I most certainly do have to hang on for dear life).

Second, he kept telling me to move back on the seat further (no can do.)

Third, he kept reminding me to lean into a turn when he did (okay, so in other words…hug the road with my face?)

And on we went…

Interesting to me was once I got over the fear of what could happen, I started to enjoy the ride.

Surprising to me was how afraid I was when we first started out.

Hadn’t I spent hours and hours on an ATV earlier in the summer (going fast for miles and miles?)

Yes.

The difference?

On the ATV, I felt like I was in control (I felt like I was holding all the cards.) On the motorcycle, riding as a passenger, I felt out of control and reliant on my son’s good judgment, skill, and ability to make a fast (safe) decision (for the both of us.)

Suddenly the stakes went up (way up).

I realized too late in the game (on the ride) that I wasn’t sure I was willing to take the risk (of entrusting myself and my safety) to him (anyone?)

It was one of those “game of life” lessons that hits you when you least expect it.

Sometimes we’re already too far down the road to turn back (or we’ve invested ourselves too much to pull out.) When that happens, what do we do?

Turn back, take a loss, go broke and (cash in our chips?)

Or, keep on going (throw in all we’ve got) and take that risk (and possibly win?)over fears, insecurities, doubts and all the rest?

I know one thing for sure: if we don’t play, we can’t win.

So here’s to moving out of our safety zones today.

Zoom. Zoom.

I Am Not a Monster. Nope, I Am Not. (But I Could Grow Into One)

A little kid wearing a monster hat is completely endearing.

A little kid sporting a monstrously bad attitude is not.

It would be nice if children “caught” good attitudes as easily as they seem to catch colds. But they don’t.

Attitudes, like all life skills and responsibilities, have to be first modeled, then taught.

And every lesson begins first and foremost in the home.

For some further thoughts on taming the monster tendency in all of us…check out this excerpt from our book, Burdens Do a Body Good.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Childrearing: When Parents Pass on the Torch of Responsibility

Kids make messes. Big messes. Small messes. Some we can laugh about, others, not so much. Little kids with chocolate smeared faces and sticky fingers can make us smile. Big kids with bad attitudes, failing grades, and a speeding ticket can make us weep. Messes, they’re a part of life and we might well ask how much of our time is spent cleaning them up, our messes and those of our kids. If we’re real honest, sometimes the two overlap and maybe, just maybe…our parental messes cause or provoke some of those our kids get mired in. Then again, maybe not. Messy stuff.

Either way, a mess of any significant proportion has to be faced and dealt with sooner rather than later. As parents we want to believe that we’ve done all we can to prepare our children for adulthood and for that next step of independence they’re continually clamoring for. And yet when we adopt that no longer helpful, “let me fix it for you” response to our older children’s actions, it gives us away. At this important stepping out juncture, we must ask ourselves hard questions. Are we enabling (excusing) or ennobling (exhorting) our offspring through our intervention? Mind-boggling, isn’t it, the mess we make by not understanding the difference.

Moms enable their kids when they excuse or make excuse for their children’s poor choices. Moms can ennoble their kids by doing precisely the opposite. No excuses. No justifying. No condoning. Nothing doing. Nope. None of that. Not now, not ever. Not even a possibility. Clean it up, now. Mind your own mess.

Women, who give way and make excuses for their kids’ behavior, find it is easier in the short run. The kids don’t grouse or complain and they walk away feeling like they got away with something. And really, we know they didn’t, they know they didn’t. There’s no escaping from the repercussions of our decisions, be they little or large and to give kids a false sense of security on this front is mindlessly shortsighted at best. At worst, the messes our kids will make with their lives if they believe they can do what they want, when they want, and with whom they want, will only hurt them (and others) over the long stretch of adulthood.

Kids with moms who are perpetually cleaning up after them are (or likely will be) young adults who are ill-equipped to stay in school, enter the job force, or sustain any type of lasting relationship…just won’t happen, especially when life gets messy-hard (and it will). Their messes will continue to getter bigger and more confounding, and with ever-widening circles of clutter. Messier and messier. Until no one, not even their family will want to get close enough to even attempt to unravel the monstrosity.

When moms excuse their kids from living responsibly it’s a simple case of “benign neglect” which in medical speak means, “watching a problem clinically without really treating it.” Moms can sit and observe their kids’ behavior while doing absolutely nothing about treating (or correcting it). This type of parental neglect couldn’t be more detrimental. Not to forget self-perpetuating. One mess-ridden pile on top of another. Painful. Neglectful. And it could be…preventable.

Activating Our Internal GPS to Navigate to Higher Levels with Others

I often walk this straight path to reach another more interesting one.

Although you can’t see it from this position, right around the next corner the entire path starts taking some definite turns. Once I reach the wooded area, it gets even better.

Around and around the footpath winds through a variety of trees, colorful brush, and way over my head water-loving cattails and towering Phragmites that will stop me in my tracks if they’re not kept under control and trimmed back.

Even though I’ve walked this route for many years, I never know what I might encounter on any given day. Some days I’m pleasantly surprised, other days I’m startled and unnerved (sort of like trying to connect with other people.)

Just as we all have to get through one path to reach another (we also must find ways to connect in basic ways before moving toward a deeper level of trust and cooperativeness with the individuals in our lives.)

This is where folks need to turn on their internal GPS to navigate toward these more rewarding higher levels.

John Maxwell writes —

In order for people to willingly go along with you (your plan) you have to do several things.

You have to find out where they are, move toward them to make contact, and connect with them. If you can do that successfully, you can take them to new heights in your relationship and in their development. Remember, the road to the next level is always uphill, and people need help to make it to that higher level.

Maxwell shares there are nine basic steps of navigation when looking to deepen communication with people.

1. Don’t take people for granted.
2. Possess a make-a-difference mind-set.
3. Initiate movement toward them.
4. Look for common ground.
5. Recognize and respect differences in personality.
6. Find the key to others’ lives.
7. Communicate from the heart.
8. Share common experiences.
9. Once connected, move forward.

Always remember that you have to share yourself before you try to share the journey.

The Chocolate Eater’s Blues — A Common Refrain

Many years have passed since my two youngest children sat me down in our living room to perform a song they had practiced for weeks prior to my birthday.

Whenever I remember their gift to me an old saying comes to mind, “Practice makes perfect.”

Not only was my daughter’s piano playing and my son’s solo perfectly executed, the song they chose for me was “perfect” too.

In honor of my love of (or addiction to?)chocolate, they performed this semi-sweet song whose lyrics are sadly too true for anyone with a sweet tooth.

I can still hear my then young son crooning the words to, “The Piano Playin’ Chocolate Eater’s Blues” as my daughter skillfully danced her fingers across the piano keys right in rhythm with him.

The memory remains a sweet one.

Unfortunately, the truth about imbibing sugar isn’t so palatable and what it does to our insides is shocking at best.

Having just finished a read/review of Sugar Shock! by former self-proclaimed sugar shrew, author Connie Bennett who co-authored this ambitious text with Stephen Sinatra, M.D.,Bennett writes -

Indulging in processed sweets and much-like-sugar carbs (white rice, chips, potatoes) wreaks havoc on your blood sugar levels, over-stimulates insulin release, triggers inflammation and can contribute to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, severe PMS, failing memory, mental confusion, infertility, wrinkles, acne, and early aging (to name just a few.)

The authors note that before you develop these conditions…you can expect to feel any/all of these symptoms – depression, fatigue, headaches, dizziness, cold sweats, anxiety, irritability, tremors, crying spells, heart palpitations, forgetfulness, nightmares, blurred vision (and more.)

After reading the studies surrounding the gross abuses of sugar (and of what happens when we do abuse it), I’m thinking, “Who needs it?” Apparently, up to eighty percent of Americans do by the way we eat.

What surprised me most about Sugar Shock! wasn’t the unsavory truth about sugar, it was how convincing Bennett was to motivate me to give it up. How many times do we read a how-to book that leaves us feeling miserably paralyzed by its overwhelmingly negative message?

Too often.

Sugar Shock! does the opposite. It educates, informs, then entices reader to conform…to a much healthier, more fully “alive” alternative.

As Bennett says, never look at what you might have to give up…look at what you have to gain.

Leaving a Legacy That Outlives Us

When I first glanced at this photo, I missed one of its most important statements.

Can you guess what it was?

I noted the heart-shaped hands…
I noted the pregnant mom’s belly…
I noted the celebratory message of the photo…

But I missed the glaringly obvious.

I missed the fact that there are two people’s hands creating the heart-shape in this photo. Looking at it more closely, I still cannot believe I didn’t see it right away.

Did you? (Miss the bigger picture while focusing on the obvious?)

No doubt, pregnancies, babies, and child-rearing are all meaningful and exciting seasons of life. With one eye, we’re busy raising our children to adulthood. With the other, we’re always looking ahead (trying to prepare and provide for the future — theirs and ours.)

No matter how young or old we are, life insists we do both — live today and prepare for tomorrow, and at times, we can get a bit overwhelmed and lose our bearings (our focus.)

There are days when I forget about my long-term destination (and leaving my legacy) in favor of simply getting through today.

So when I read this little theory by Jack Balousek, president/CEO of True North Communications, it helped.

Balousek believes there are three phases to life which he describes as, “Learn, earn, return - The first third should be devoted to education, the second third to building a career and making a living, and the last third to giving back to others – returning something in gratitude. Each state seems to be a preparation for the next one.”

Good way to look at it.

Then, I read on as John Maxwell added his insights.

“If you are successful, it becomes possible for you to leave an inheritance for others. But if you desire to do more, to create a legacy, then you need to leave that in others. When you think unselfishly and invest in others, you gain the opportunity to create a legacy that will outlive you.”

Better way to look at it (and you gotta love it, by a longshot.)