all right, you get all prepped up for your surgery and are wheeled into the surgery room on a gurney. then they line the gurney up to a really, really narrow flat table. you scoot yourself over to that table, which does not even have arms on it.
why is this table-bed so small and narrow? when your surgery is underway, what purpose would such a narrow bed serve? do they have "arms" that come out from the bottom of it that they put your arms onto? it would make sense, seing that you already have at least one IV running into your arm or hand.
2007-07-01 12:25:07 · 6 answers · asked by Louiegirl_Chicago 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Medicine
The beds are narrow so that your surgeon can reach the parts he/she needs to get to. Remember, much of the time, the surgeon is working in a hole. He/she needs to be close so that there is a good view of what is being operated upon.
OR tables have armboards that hook onto the sides of the table. Sometimes we use them, sometimes not. Your arms may be tucked at your sides. It depends on the surgery.
There is also the possibility that you may be positioned differently after you go to sleep. We put people to sleep on their backs so that we can get the breathing tube in. Some procedures require that you be moved onto your side or even face down.
2007-07-01 13:04:25 · answer #1 · answered by Pangolin 7 · 6⤊ 0⤋
Surgery beds are designed to be narrow for easy accessibility and of the operation staff who will be standing or will be situated on every side of the bed. For example doctors and nurses work side to side and other stand on the opposite side facing each other so can you imagine what should they do if the bed is wide? Should they need to extend their arms farther to reach the opposite side during the operation? If the doctor needs to check on the oposite side of the patient should he stretch his arms? That would be inconvenient and definitely would be a great obstacle in their works.
In the case of the patient, definitely it will be quite uncomfortable from the start but once the operation starts, the patient is usually strapped to the bed to avoid from falling or unnecessary shift. The arms would just be tucked at sides or sometimes placed on an arm board at the sides. Besides if it is on general anesthesia, patient would be asleep so there won't be voluntary changes of the position.
2007-07-01 19:50:48 · answer #2 · answered by ♥ lani s 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is not a bed...it is a stretcher of sorts. It is narrow because your body only needs a narrow space to work around. Add all the surgery team and it gets quiet crowed around that bed, and a wider one would only make it worse.
The machines attached to you or maybe needed during surgery will have a close proximity to you.
Last but not least, it allows the surgeon room to move around or reach around if needed.
2007-07-01 21:06:22 · answer #3 · answered by Me R 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The surgery room bed is narrow to make sure that the patient does not slide away from the scalpel. This way there is no room to move away from the scary scalpel and if the pt tries that, he/she will just fall over.
2007-07-02 01:00:20 · answer #4 · answered by Amar D 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Those tables used to be just fine for the population. However, as the country has gotten bigger, now they are considered narrow. Plus, OR's weren't as big as they are now.
There are arm boards that attach (not come out) that are placed after you are sleeping.
2007-07-01 19:39:41 · answer #5 · answered by dwp_hornblower 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
So the surgeons can get as close as possible.
And another, the surgeons are trying to fix you, not provide comfort that would interfere with the surgery.
It's a HOSPITAL! Not a Hilton Hotel!
2007-07-01 23:44:35 · answer #6 · answered by ? 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋