Politics

The more time I spend in theatres, the more I become aware of the sheer amount of politics that is going on all around me. In many ways, it’s a very strange environment because there are lots of different factions, each with their own role.

We have (in alphabetical order so no egos get bruised)

The Anaesthetists
The Managers
The Patients
The Surgeons
The Theatre Nurses, ODPs and support staff
The Ward Staff

And then there are lots of other people who you’ll often see down in the theatres such as parents of child patients, radiographers, translators, medical students and nursing students.

The things is, unlike working on a normal ward, I don’t get the impression that anyone is actually in overall charge. I’m pretty sure the surgeons, anaesthetists and managers each think they’re in charge, but none of them are really. All of the aforementioned groups are convinced that they are doing things in the best interests of the patients, but each will have their own perspective. Each has their own agenda and this frequently leads to friction and arguments.

When certain things go wrong, (please note that I’m talking about stuff like time-delays and work distribution rather than direct patient care) then one or more of the factions will start bitching about one or more of the other factions and how they’re “compromising patient care.” It strikes me that no one really sees the big picture. You’d think that the managers would be in the best position to see the “big picture” but the irony is they are they very group who never actually see the patients – and from some of the things they do, this is all too obvious.