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This is what really happens when you go under the knife

<p>We’ve all seen the TV dramas – <a href="http://abc.go.com/shows/greys-anatomy">Grey’s Anatomy</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108757/">ER</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m8wd">Casualty</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mhd6">Holby City</a> – and most of us like to think we have a pretty good idea of what happens in an operating theatre. The doctors and nurses will be clad in blue scrubs, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/music-surgery_n_6310842">operatic music will be playing</a>, with intermittent calls of “scalpel” or “swabs”, right?</p> <p>For those readers, who’ve ever had an operation – whether it was <a href="https://theconversation.com/seven-body-organs-you-can-live-without-84984">planned or an emergency</a> – things in the real world probably felt very different to those familiar TV drama medical emergency scenes. In part, this is because <a href="https://theconversation.com/greys-anatomy-is-unrealistic-but-it-might-make-junior-doctors-more-compassionate-92040">TV programmes often portray the staff</a> who work on the wards also working in the operating theatre – but this isn’t the case.</p> <p>In fact, it’s not just doctors and nurses that make up part of the team involved in an operation, there is also a group of professionals, known as <a href="https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/allied-health-professionals/roles-allied-health-professions/operating-department-practitioner">operating department practitioners</a> (ODPs), who are trained specifically to look after you when you’re under the bright lights of the operating theatre.</p> <h2>What happens when I arrive?</h2> <p>Having an operation can be highly stressful. You might have been told not to eat before. It all feels a bit unknown, and you aren’t exactly sure what will happen. But the staff at the hospital are on hand to try and make things easy for you.</p> <p>As you are arrive on the ward, a whole team of staff are busy preparing for your surgery. You’ll be asked to confirm who you are and what you’re being admitted for. You will also be asked to change into a very fetching hospital gown. Someone will also sit down and talk you through what’s happening and check you have not eaten – this is so you don’t vomit <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-lesson-how-anesthetics-work-and-why-xenons-perfect-83744">during your anaesthetic</a>.</p> <h2>Who looks after me?</h2> <p>The team looking after you has three sub teams working as one. They are the anaesthetic team, the surgical team and the post anaesthetic team. These teams work like cogs and your care and treatment is seamless. As a minimum, this would mean you would have nine health professionals caring for you at any one time.</p> <p>Your operating team on the day will have doctors – who are the anaesthetist, and the surgeon – but the rest of the team could be made up nurses, ODPs and healthcare assistants. ODPs are generally a graduate professional and they train through university in partnership with the hospital operating theatres.</p> <h2>When do I have the anaesthetic?</h2> <p>When the team is ready and it’s time for your surgery, you have your anaesthetic. This will be delivered by an anaesthetist, but there always has to be trained assistance – normally an ODP.</p> <p>On arrival in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-find-way-to-predict-who-is-likely-to-wake-up-during-surgery-53217">anaesthetic room</a>, it is the ODP that greets you with a big smile and often a cheesy joke. After all, they have minutes to get to know you and for you to trust them with your life. They will attach you to the monitoring equipment and measure your baseline pulse and blood pressure readings.</p> <p>You will need a cannula (a plastic tube) inserting into a vein, so the anaesthetist can give you the drugs. This is the point where you may be asked to start counting back slowly from ten – you won’t even get to seven.</p> <h2>What happens during surgery?</h2> <p>While the anaesthetic team continue to look after you, the surgical team carry out your operation. The surgeon will have at least one assistant – I have known more than ten people to be part of this team for major head and neck cancer surgery. The first assistant and other assistants scrub up with the surgeon and help with the surgery.</p> <p>Adding to this team there is a scrub practitioner and their role is to provide the swabs, needles and equipment to the surgeon and the assistants. They are the ones who also count everything to make sure you don’t leave the operating theatre with any unwanted extras.</p> <h2>When can I go home?</h2> <p>Once your <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-you-feel-better-after-surgery-now-you-can-find-out-using-this-online-tool-72758">surgery is complete</a> your wounds will be dressed by the surgical team. Your anaesthetic will be reversed and you will be taken to the post anaesthetic care unit – which used to be called recovery. Here you will be looked after until you are ready to be discharged back to the ward. Here, you wounds will be inspected, and whoever’s looking after you will make sure your <a href="https://theconversation.com/anthill-19-pain-87538">pain is under control</a> and you are not feeling sick.</p> <p>Once you are awake and comfy, you will be taken back to the ward where your relatives may be waiting and you should be able to have something to eat and drink. Depending on your surgery and who you have at home to look after you, you may even be allowed to go home the same day.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95719/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/deborah-robinson-469372">Deborah Robinson</a>, Senior Lecturer and Head of Health and Social Work School, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-hull-1191">University of Hull</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-what-really-happens-when-you-go-under-the-knife-95719">original article</a>.</em></p>

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Have you been using a knife and fork wrong?

<p>With the festive season rapidly approaching it would be a good time to start perfecting your table etiquette.</p> <p>Surprisingly, new British research has discovered that 40 per cent of people don’t know how to correctly use a knife and fork.</p> <p>Etiquette expert, Jo Bryant, specialises in table manners and shares the correct ways to hold a knife and fork, when it’s appropriate to use one utensil over another, and finding your way around an elaborate dinner setting.</p> <p>“When it comes to good table manners and etiquette, it is easy to feel daunted. Whether we are trying new cuisines, curbing bad habits, remembering the basics or managing tricky situations, it can seem like there is a lot to get right,” Jo explained.</p> <p>“However, the aim of good table etiquette is simply the essence of good manners: to behave with consideration, thought and respect towards fellow diners – as you would expect them to behave towards you.”</p> <p>Jo revealed the correct way to hold your knife, which involves the index finger resting along the top of the handle. Forks should be held with the tines pointing downwards with your index finger on the handle. Gripping your cutlery with your hands around the centre shows very bad table manners.</p> <p>Jo shared insight into when to ditch your knife explaining, “You should not cut up your food, then put down your knife and fork, or just a fork.”</p> <p>The only occasion it is acceptable to eat with a fork is when eating a meal that only requires a single utensil, such as spaghetti.</p> <p>“In this case, the fork should be held with the tines facing upwards, similar to a spoon,” she continued.</p> <p>If you feel overwhelmed when it comes to elaborate table settings with different sets of cutlery fear no more. Jo revealed the ins and outs of how to work your way around the table.</p> <p>The first rule of thumb is that cutlery is used from the outside inwards, entre cutlery is placed on the outside of the table setting while the main utensils are on the inside next to the plate.</p> <p>If soup is being served as a starter, then the spoon is placed to the right and outside of the main course knife.</p> <p>Dessert cutlery is usually positioned across the top of the place setting, with the bowl of the spoon pointing to the left and the tines of the fork to the right. This rule is broken in extremely formal circumstances, like a banquet with the Queen, where pudding spoons and forks are placed innermost to the knives and forks.</p> <p>Side plates go to the left of the forks, usually with a butter knife and napkin.</p> <p>Wine and water glasses go to the top right of the setting.</p>

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Knife-wielding crab threatens owner as she flees

<p>A pet crab has been filmed waving a knife at her owner while fleeing her home.</p> <p>It is unclear how the crabby crustacean called Catarina acquired the knife, but the footage shows the owners trying to remove the knife from the crab’s claw several times only to have the crab raise the knife in a seemingly threatening manner.</p> <p>If we were this crab’s owner, we would be sleeping with one eye open! </p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/01/photos-of-animals-hitchhiking/">Hilarious photos of animals hitchhiking</a></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/01/animals-who-love-warm/">In pictures: 12 animals who love warmth more than anything</a></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/10/why-dogs-so-happy-to-see-you/">The science behind dogs being so happy to see you</a></em></strong></span></p>

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Genius trick to sharpen knives without sharpener

<p>Finding your kitchen knives going blunt but don’t have a knife sharpener? That’s no problem with this nifty trick. Using only a standard ceramic mug, here’s how you quickly and easily sharpen your knife. Watch the video above to see how it works in action, and remember, if you’re trying this at home, be careful.</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/01/natural-ways-to-get-rid-of-cockroaches/"><strong>8 natural ways to get rid of cockroaches</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/01/expert-summer-gardening-tips/"><strong>Expert tips for a thriving garden this summer</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/01/household-uses-for-vaseline/"><strong>Clever uses for Vaseline around the house</strong></a></em></span></p>

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