I have not just watched the surgeons work but the scrub nurse and the anaesthetist too. This is how it seems to me to work.
The theatre nurse is at the feet. They act as a gyroscope for all needs external.Tools and people are kept in balance by a constant shifting of focus and awareness of what will be required.Whilst training a scrub nurse I heard the head theatre nurse explain to her how she must give the surgeon options of tools that he is about to need but not require him to answer questions,
''just hand him things, he's sensitive, don't mess with his head.''
The surgeon is in the middle. The bio-mechanic who uses a vast knowledge of consequences.They must see the wood for the trees.The mental toolbox is vast and the decisions are theirs to make.
Voltaire said ''perfection is the enemy of good'' and many surgeons understand why this is true.
The anaesthetist is at the head. They act as a gyroscope for all things unseen; chemical, emotional and even your sanity. Their regard for their patient is the same as the nurses and surgeons but their skill is to think for the unconscious.They have a ''sixth sense for where that space may be''.
(Helgi Johansson)
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