Rules to work by?

[drwex]

A while back there was a series of postings about peoples' rules or guidelines for life. I'm wondering if you have similarly pithy rules for the job you do.

Comments

[docorion.livejournal.com]

These are the rules for a happy surgical internship. Explanations where I think they're needed.

1. Don't stand when you can sit. Don't sit when you can lie down.

2. See a donut, eat a donut.

3. Don't f*ck with the pancreas (widely viewed as an organ which is hard to operate on, and it gets mighty pissed of when you mess with it).

4. Don't waterski off the spleen (the spleen is in the left upper quadrant, and is occasionally injured by enthusiastic people holding retractors. This is frequently a job for an intern, and is a rule which admonishes him/her to be aware of where the end of the retractor is with respect to the spleen).

5. Don't let go of the wire. (Certain large invasive IV lines are placed "over a wire"; you put a needle in the vein, put a guidewire (looks like a guitar string) into the needle, take the needle out, and thread the flexible catheter over the wire into the vein. If you let go of the wire, it can slilp into the body, necessitating a lengthy, risky and embarrassing-to-the-surgeon retrieval by radiology).

[drwex]

All good advices. #5 makes me gleep a bit.