Week 4- The Replacements (Guss)

This was a week that was full of watching orthopedic surgeries. For two whole days I followed around Dr. Haas in the OR and was able to see him do an amazing amount of surgeries per day. The surgeries I watched were torn meniscus repair with a scope, total knee replacement, and total hip replacements. I was amazed watching the the meniscus repair at how much fluid they are constantly pumping into the joint and sucking out of it. There was fluid all over the floor at certain points throughout the procedure and the staff would be wearing crocs in the OR.  The hip replacement took these procedures to a whole new level. They block off a large portion of the room with these sliding plastic doors and all of the staff dress up in these "space suits" to keep the area sterile, as well as to protect them self from fluid/debris flying out from the patient.  The same set up was used for the knee replacements.  Looking at the tools used for the procedures was literally like looking at a machine shop as there are a plethora of saws, hammers, rods, and other tools that utilize blunt force.  Watching the surgeon bang an implant in to place in the persons hip and watching debris fly into the air is an experience I will surely never forget.  I really enjoyed this opportunity and got to see about 8 knee, 2 hip, and 2 meniscus repairs.  Dr. Haas was very nice and also appears to be an amazing surgeon as he can fly through these procedures in record time.