OR Manager March 2022 - 12

Leadership Series
Continued from page 11
May 16-18, 2022
JW Marriott Hill Country
Resort & Spa
San Antonio, TX
leaders' management, interpersonal,
and communication styles. I was fortunate
to have great leaders during my
formative years as an OR nurse.
Q: What advice would you give
to up-and-coming leaders?
Stay
informed, be present, mainHurry,
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tain communication with staff, follow
through with your promises, involve
staff with department initiatives, and
maintain focus on goals and objectives.
You will become a " jack of all trades,
master of none " as a new leader. You
need to practice true collaboration and
rely upon the team members. Value
the staff's opinions-they are subject
matter experts who often come up with
solutions.
Establish a non-punitive environment.
Accept the fact that everyone
makes mistakes, so give opportunities
for the staff to redeem themselves.
More importantly, admit to your own
mistakes and maintain your integrity.
You will find there are a lot of politics involved
in leadership-you should never
pick sides. Stay within your moral principles
and practice what you preach.
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40614
Q: What was the hardest lesson
in your first year in the OR?
In 2001, the physician-nurse work relationship
was more hierarchical than collaborative.
It is undoubtedly better now,
but back then, some surgeons were
known to be belligerent and would throw
tantrums in the middle of a case. Unfortunately,
these occurrences were seldomly
reported, and no one kept these
behaviors in check. Back then, it took a
lot of nerve for nurses and scrub techs
to stand up to these kinds of behaviors.
I experienced a similar incident with
a neurosurgeon. It was an ethical dilemma
involving the patient on the operating
table, and I was advocating on the
patient's behalf. I remember that we almost
came to an altercation. I stood my
12
OR Manager | March 2022
ground and was ready to defend myself.
Fortunately, other team members intervened
and it de-escalated. It certainly
made an impression on the surgeon
that I was willing to maintain my conviction.
As time went by and I worked in
his cases, we realized we had a lot in
common and became friends. We rode
motorcycles together, and we keep in
touch to this day!
That incident struck a chord, and
I took that challenging experience to
heart. I felt it was a breakthrough, and
I reached another milestone in my career.
That is why it is so important to
stick to your moral principles to benefit
your patients.
Another incident involved a patient
undergoing a spinal discectomy (dissecting
a disc to decompress the spinal
nerve) and replacing the disc with frozen
cadaver bone. As the circulating nurse,
I was responsible for getting the implant
from storage and handing it to the
surgical team. After the case, with the
patient admitted to a patient care unit,
we discovered that the implant was expired.
I informed the surgeon and our
department manager. Together, we notified
the patient and the patient's family.
The patient returned to the OR and we
removed the expired implant. We also
reported this incident to the quality department,
and a risk analysis conducted
by the risk department followed shortly
after that. I was given disciplinary action.
This was the most difficult event
I have ever had to deal with throughout
my career.
I will always carry these two experiences.
They made me a better patient
advocate and a better leader. ORM
-Ivy Montgomery is a
Go-To-Market executive
who is passionate about
improving patient outcomes
with innovative
technologies, especially
in the areas of diagnosis,
treatment, and prevention of diseases.
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OR Manager March 2022

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