Cellphones are an amazing technological advancement in our society, but they certainly have a way of invading our mind and tweaking our behavior in the most unfortunate of ways and at the most unfortunate of times. People willfully (and seemingly blissfully) text while they are driving. People bust out their cellphone during a nice dinner with friends or family. For all of the positive things the cellphone brings to the table, it certainly has some significant drawbacks.
So now imagine that you are about to head into surgery, and right before the medical staff on hand put you under, the surgeon is texting away on his or her phone. Imagine if after you were put under and the procedure was under, your surgeon said “oh wait, let me check one thing” and then he or she opened up an app on his or her cellphone.
Wouldn’t that be ridiculous? Shouldn’t that be disciplined? Couldn’t this lead to some unfortunate events in the operating room?
The answer to all three of those questions is “yes,” and the distracting element of cellphones isn’t even the only concern with cellphones and the medical industry. Cellphones also carry bacteria on them, and bringing them into supposedly sterile environments like the operating room presents an unnecessary danger to the patient.
So this is a call to all medical professionals out there: put away your cellphone when you are on duty. Don’t let the distracting nature of the cellphone cause you to lose focus (and maybe make a mistake) while you are performing your job.
Source: The Bulletin, “Is your surgeon focused on you or his smartphone?,” Markian Hawryluk, Feb. 1, 2015
