Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The organization of an operation / by W.W. Keen. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
3/14
![Extracted frinri' ' The American Journal of the Medical Sciences for January, 1891. THE ORGANIZATION OF AN OPERATIO])?:^'/ Our text-books on surgery, in treating on Operations, give directions as to tlie need of an ample number of assistants and the assignment and nature of the duties of each, of preparing the room, etc.; but so far as I know, they do not insist on the proper method of organizing the operation as to the minute written or printed directions to the nurse and to the physician in cliarge in any systematic way. For the want of this the family, the physician, and the nurse do not know what is expected of each, and often the needed preparations are not made until the surgeon arrives in person. In my earlier professional life, before doing an operation I was com- pelled to sit down and make a list of what was wanted, and also to give verbal or written directions to the nurse, the family, and the physician. At each operation tliis laborious process had to be repeated, and the chances were that I would forget some one or more of the details of the preliminary preparation, or some minor instrument or necessary appli- ance that I wanted during the operation. Gradually the matter system- atized itself in my mind, and some twelve or fifteen years ago I prepared a blank somewhat similar to the one presented below. I have been so often asked for a copy of this blank that I have finally decided to pub- lish it in this article, and in addition Messrs. Lea Bros. & Co. have kindly consented to publish the blank in pads of fifty each, so that they may be available to any surgeon who desires to use them. Probably others have adopted some more or less'similar plan but I know of none that has been published. My custom is, before each operation, to take one of these blanks, run over its items and check those that are applicable to the case. I then send or hand it to-the physician in attendance, with the request that everything shall be prepared in accordance with it. If it is a private case of my own I hand it to the nurse and expect her to attend to the items of the first two divisions, and I check and so order from the drug- store such appliances, dressings, or drugs of the third and fourth divi-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22277109_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
