Working with a good operating room team is equivalent to having a great offense when playing football. Similar to each player on the field, each member of the team has a very important job to do. Here's a fun comparison if you're thinking of working in the industry as an operating room technician.
The Leader
The surgeon who will be performing the operation can generally be viewed as the leader in an operating room. Like an NFL quarterback, he or she is the one who calls the "plays," or in an operating room setting, knows the tools that are needed and how the operation is going to be performed.
In addition to the surgeon, there are often many assistants helping with the operation. These types of jobs might range from assistant surgeons to a surgical technologist. In football, those helping the quarterback, or in this case the surgeon, would be known as the "offensive line." Their job on the field is primarily to protect the quarterback from getting sacked, in addition to blocking the other team's defensive line. In the operating room, this role would correlate to members of the team who make sure the surgeon has all the tools on hand that he or she needs, as well as ensuring that nothing prevents the operation from proceeding as planned.
The Coach
In football, the coach is a vital part of every game. The coach is the one who calls the plays, pulls players on and off the field and basically makes sure that all the players are properly positioned for one common goal: To win the game! In an operating room, the coach could very much be the lead operating room nurse. He or she would be responsible for not only making sure that all the players (notably the operating room staff) are in place, but providing assistance and guidance, too. And while we don't want to make fun of the patient who is undergoing surgery, we could try to imagine the patient as the ball. The patient, like the ball, has to be coddled a bit, passed carefully from player to player and never dropped. The coach needs to make sure that happens!
The Touchdown
Once the surgeon has completed the operation as planned and the quarterback has led his team down the field and scored a touchdown, it's up to the kicker to kick the extra point. The "kicker" as part of the operating room team might be considered the anesthesiologist. This is the person responsible for making sure the patient has come through the operation with flying colors (winning the game, so to speak), in addition to monitoring the patient until he or she regains consciousness.
Ultimately, regardless of what the "field" looks like, a team effort is vital to make it a win-win situation for everyone involved!
