Emily Beacham
4/29/12
Chemistry 1010
E-Portfolio Assignment
Chemistry in Surgery
Surgery: it’s difficult, complicated, and time consuming but most people don’t know
what occurs “behind the scenes”. When people think of surgery and science they automatically
think that only biology is used which is not true. Next to biology, chemistry is the biggest
science used in the operating room, my career as a Certified Surgical Technologist has enabled
me to use this chemistry and understand why these chemical reactions are used in the operating
room. Usually there are four people in the operating room during surgery, the surgeon, the
anesthesiologist, the nurse, and the surgical technician; each person has their own responsibilities
but each person also has to use chemistry before, during, and after surgery. Many people don’t
know the specific responsibilities of each person; first I will discuss what those responsibilities
are and then how and why each of them uses chemistry.
The surgeon’s responsibilities are to firstly, perform the procedure and ensure the
patient’s safety. Surgeons also use chemistry; they are the final word for what percentage
strength of medicines to use. The chemistry involved in this is important because if they
administer a higher percentage of local (anesthetic) than is necessary the cells of the tissue could
sustain serious injury or death. At the same time, he wants the patient to have adequate postoperative pain control. Another chemical reaction that surgeons must consider are the fluids that
are put into the patient, he must ensure that the only fluids used in the patient are isotonic to
ensure that the cells are not altered. These things may not seem like chemistry but if the fluids
aren’t checked and the medication is too high of a concentration the patient could experience
severe consequences. Checking fluids is not the sole responsibility of the surgeon it also falls
upon every other member of the surgical team, the anesthesiologist also uses chemistry in
practicing medicine.
The anesthesiologist’s responsibilities are to put the patient to sleep and maintain that
state for the duration of the procedure, the next major responsibilities are to monitor the fluid-toblood loss ratio and observing the patient’s O2-CO2 exchange. These procedures are based in
chemistry; anesthesiologist must perform balancing equations and stoicheometry pertaining to
the blood. They too, must ensure that the fluids used are isotonic so that the body’s cells are not
injured or compromised. The anesthesiologist and nurse work together during surgery to ensure
the patient’s chemical balanced is maintained through the use of chemistry.
The nurse must correctly mix IV fluids to ensure a balanced solution; if the solution is not
mixed in correct proportions the patient could become dehydrated. A high sodium content in the
saline drip could cause this through the patient’s IV. On the other hand, if there is not enough
sodium the fluids are essentially useless. Most of the time the nurse must mix other medications
besides IV fluids, the challenge with medications is balancing the concentrations of each
medication without mixing too much. If a medication is mixed and not used for the case it, then,
must be discarded. The last person of the surgical team is the surgical technologist, the surgical
technologist and the nurse work hand-in-hand with each other to achieve an optimum goal.
The surgical technologist is responsible for setting up, maintaining, and tearing down the
sterile field while assisting the surgeon during the procedure. The chemistry that the surgical
technologist uses are quite extensive, they must keep all fluids uncontaminated because once an
instrument goes into the sterile water it should not be used because it could lyse the patient’s
cells. Many people have heard of bone cement but, what they don’t know is, it’s actually a
complicated exothermic chemical reaction. The technologist cannot mix the cement too soon
because a heat reaction will take place and harden before it can be used, and if it’s mixed too late
bleeding will most likely get out of hand. This particular chemical reaction is impressive because
the powder that comes with the liquid mixture creates an intense heat reaction. It eventually
becomes so hot it can burn the skin it touches until the cement dries and hardens.
It is the goal of the entire surgical team to achieve an optimal outcome for each and every
patient. To reach this goal chemistry is used to ensure a positive and safe result. Every person
has a vital role in the operating room and everyone must use chemistry to complete the puzzle to
make sure the patient is safe. As mentioned, much of the time the responsibilities of each person
can overlap because it is somebody’s life that is on the line, if an experiment goes wrong in a
laboratory setting because a solution was mixed incorrectly or a solution wasn’t balanced and
confirmed multiple time, then the scientist can just start over, but that is not possible in the
operating room-there are no second chances. The medical field is broad but when it’s broken
down into departments it’s easy to see the application of chemistry in each.