I just saw a post about a doctor monitoring his patients vitals after a 23 hour long heart transplant surgery, with the nurses sleeping in the background. I understand that that may be one of the hardest things in the world to do, and requires an amount of focus I can’t even imagine. But still, what takes **so** long in the operation room?
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In: Biology
AST Certified and California credentialed Surgical Assistant here. Surgical procedures vary in length depending on how complicated the surgery is ( example – heart transplant 20+ hr VS a hip replacement 2-3 hr), the patients physical condition, and honestly the dr’s over all experience. In general anything having to do with the head, neck, or upper trunk is going to take significantly longer due to the fact there are so many vital organs packed into these parts of the human body. A wrong move in these areas can mean immediate and catastrophic results. The shortest procedures are usually the extremities. I’ve seen a foot amputated start to finish in about 20 min.
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