Techs behavior during surgery

[Gabbck]

I had two surgeries, first one with a crappy Dr and the second one with a prominent and considered one of the best  Dr's

On the first they had a big tv and told me I could watch any movies I wanted, I didn't do it as I though it would be a distraction, the techs were overall quiet if I remember correctly

With the top Dr the techs were both women, kind of friends I guess and talked between them a bit, not to the point of pissing me off but enough that I remember

My take is that it should be a very quiet environment, the work is all that matters, chit chat should be minimum and the techs talking between themselves could be saved for their lunch break or whenever the hell they are not working on someone's head

Obviously is a sensitive matter as antagonizing the people doing the HT could not be the best idea, and by brining it up beforehand with them or the Dr they can easily see it as you telling them how to do their jobs and people are easily offended nowadays

What are your experiences and what do you consider behavior that can end up affecting results?

 

[SeanT1]

I completely understand your view on wanting them to focus 100% and not be distracted with conversation.

Personally, I don't think the techs chatting would affect the final results.
They'll still be looking at your scalp as they make the same incisions .etc.
The techs did talked throughout my experience and it didn't cause any negative experience. 

My dentist also chats with the assistant while doing procedures, it also doesn't seem to affect results.

Edited December 18, 2022 by SeanToman

[HappyMan2021]

On the one hand I understand that for the techs this is a job just like anyother. They do it day in and day out - I imagine it gets routine - downright boring at times - and just like office workers, people are prone to chit chat and other stimuli in order to make the day go faster. 

On the other hand, the procedure can cost you tens of thousands of dollars, can be a tremendous pain in the a** to schedule into your life, and if things go badly your scalp can be disfigured, you can be emotionally tramuatized, and face years and years of repairs ahead of you (that is, if you can even afford the repair journey)

In short, don't prioritize the enjoyment of a random stranger for your surgery, when you face extreme consequences if they screw up. 

Realistically speaking though - what are you supposed to do? I honestly don't know if I have the personality to tell the techs to STFU and focus in the middle of surgery. Will that even make things better?

Once again, going to an elite doctor is the golden rule. Elite docs have professional techs who regularly work with said doctors for decades on end. If you go to a bad clinic, the techs are likely going to be amateur and will be much more likely to treat your surgery like an office happy hour. 

Edited December 18, 2022 by HappyMan2021

[Melvin- Admin]

I think this is going overboard. People aren’t machines, they shouldn’t be expected to behave as such. As long as they aren’t behaving inappropriately, I don’t see an issue with having conversations.

[JP28]

2 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

I think this is going overboard. People aren’t machines, they shouldn’t be expected to behave as such. As long as they aren’t behaving inappropriately, I don’t see an issue with having conversations.

Totally agree! 

[Gatsby]

I think that whatever environment that is conducive to relax to do their best work is great. Whether that means music, video TV, etc I have no problem. If they haven't been with the surgeon for a very long time then I worry.

[BackFromTheBrink]

The techs talked to me and each other during the surgery (as did the two surgeons) - sometimes chit chat, others about the surgery itself.

It made my time go quicker and helped me to relax and I’d have preferred it to silence in the same way a pilot chatting with his copilot wouldn’t bother me when I was flying.

I know if I’m finding something at work challenging, I’ll be quiet and focus. Similarly, if I’m doing something routine, I’ll do it better if I have something to keep me engaged, whether that’s music, chatting or whatever.

In short, I don’t think it’s reasonable for someone to spend multiple hours doing the same thing over and over in silence, and neither do I think you’d get as good a result if you (or the clinic) forced that.

 

[WhiteyUK]

7 hours ago, HappyMan2021 said:

anyother. They do it day in and day out - I imagine it gets routine - downright boring at times - and just like office workers, people are prone to chit chat and other stimuli in order to make the day go faster. 

Exactly this …. I’m a heating engineer and when I’m fitting a boiler or fixing a flue, me and my colleague might carry on, tell jokes or talk sh*t

But at the end of the day we do a professional job and would never leave the boiler unsafe.

[Marko7t4]

You can’t really expect people to be quite for hours on end. As long as they’re doing their job properly, it shouldn’t matter. The techs doing my implants were chatting to me, and each other, about anything and everything. They put on a rock music channel for me on the radio, chatted about bands, life, etc, but also spoke to each other about the work they were doing. It helped to pass the time. 

[DrMunibAhmad]

As a hair surgeon I'll give my 2 cents.

I think there is a point to be made. Although people aren’t machines, imo there should be nothing in the surgery room that can distract, both patient and the physician. 

We don’t have tv’s and don’t have any clocks for the time. Just some radio background music.

Some patients can talk without moving their head. But many move and use facial expressions while talking. And when you're busy with a surgery, where you need to handle things that are fragile, and put them in tiny incisions, every extra movement can be critical. So that’s why we only utter a few words during the whole surgery. 
 

I've seen crazy things in many clinics. Patients singing, techs talking while holding the graft with the forceps, grafts being dried while techs were busy talking about nonsense. So there is definitely a point to be made here. Althougng quiet doesn't directly mean that the work that's being done is better. 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by DrMunibAhmad

[NARMAK]

9 hours ago, Gabbck said:

I had two surgeries, first one with a crappy Dr and the second one with a prominent and considered one of the best  Dr's

On the first they had a big tv and told me I could watch any movies I wanted, I didn't do it as I though it would be a distraction, the techs were overall quiet if I remember correctly

With the top Dr the techs were both women, kind of friends I guess and talked between them a bit, not to the point of pissing me off but enough that I remember

My take is that it should be a very quiet environment, the work is all that matters, chit chat should be minimum and the techs talking between themselves could be saved for their lunch break or whenever the hell they are not working on someone's head

Obviously is a sensitive matter as antagonizing the people doing the HT could not be the best idea, and by brining it up beforehand with them or the Dr they can easily see it as you telling them how to do their jobs and people are easily offended nowadays

What are your experiences and what do you consider behavior that can end up affecting results?

 

I think expecting complete silence by individuals over 7-8hrs is a ridiculous demand and whilst i respect that you value having that, you should buy some ear buds to block noise or put some earphones in and listen to music. 

You should also choose a hair transplant clinic that has well trained clinics. 

I would rather a tech team be able to feel like they are letting things be done efficiently and use music/chat not as a distraction per se but way to keep their brains engaged. Just as something becomes monotonous, this can cause an issue for people's concentration too and they could make mistakes in that silence too. It's a double edged sword i guess but whatever the case, a team should be highly trained and capable imo. I understand certain conversations may not be to the liking of everyone, but again, you have the responsibility for yourself. 

I agree the consequences for bad techs can mean repair and a longer journey, but this again goes back to your choice generally because good hair transplant clinics pay techs usually in Western countries well enough to be with them for decades. 

I do think however i completely appreciate the argument fr other side of the coin though. 

[mister_25]

On my procedure, I would say 80-90% of the talking was coordination with handling my case. The remaining 10-20% seemed to be mild chit-chat while doing something that I presume to them to be a monotonous task they do day in day out for years. I do get what you mean as on the second day of my procedure I had a pretty nasty cough so I didnt watch Netflix like they offered because I thought it could be mild distracting on top of working around the cough.

[Gabbck]

54 minutes ago, DrMunibAhmad said:

As a hair surgeon I'll give my 2 cents.

I think there is a point to be made. Although people aren’t machines, imo there should be nothing in the surgery room that can distract, both patient and the physician. 

We don’t have tv’s and don’t have any clocks for the time. Just some radio background music.

Some patients can talk without moving their head. But many move and use facial expressions while talking. And when you're busy with a surgery, where you need to handle things that are fragile, and put them in tiny incisions, every extra movement can be critical. So that’s why we only utter a few words during the whole surgery. 
 

I've seen crazy things in many clinics. Patients singing, techs talking while holding the graft with the forceps, grafts being dried while techs were busy talking about nonsense. So there is definitely a point to be made here. Althougng quiet doesn't directly mean that the work that's being done is better. 

 

 

 

There you go, the Dr’s point of view says it all, it’s all about the surgery and nothing else, makes a lot of sense, very logical

Obviously people aren’t machines and didn’t say they ought to be absolutely quiet 100% of the time, I understand some talk and might be nitpicking, however an environment free of silly chit chat with full focus on the task at hand most of the time ought to be expected

It’s good to hear other perspectives though and seeing that everything worked fine anyways

I get the boiling engineer example and the dentist, but let’s face it, you can’t remotely compare that with HT surgery, with HT the room for messing up is very wide, hence why very few Dr’s and  teams in the world are able to produce great results with consistency

[WhiteyUK]

3 hours ago, Gabbck said:

I get the boiling engineer example and the dentist, but let’s face it, you can’t remotely compare that with HT surgery

I disagree …. If a heating engineer drops a clanger the consequences are much worse… dangerous appliance equals carbon monoxide which results in death !

 

[A Fue Good Men]

Outside of some calming music, I wouldn’t want anything else in the OR while I’m having surgery. This is surgery after all. Imagine having heart surgery and the docs and techs are chatting and laughing during the procedure.

[Bb111]

In most operating rooms the patient is under anesthesia. Once the patient is asleep there is often music being played and banter between the different teams (surgery, anesthesia, and nursing). This is routine and accepted behavior.. I would say the music and banter ebbs and flows with the surgery. During "critical or non routine parts of the surgery" i.e. dissection of the tumor off another critical structure like a major blood vessel, sewing in a new valve into a heart, or if the patient becomes unstable there is only critical communication going on. At other times when very "routine" parts of the procedure are going on there is music and chatting. Not sure why hair transplant would be any different. You have to trust the doctor/clinic/techs enough to do their job well. Asking them to behave in ways that are out of the ordinary to them (operating in complete silence) will increase the risk of error. 

 

[gillenator]

54 minutes ago, 5BetaReductase said:

Outside of some calming music, I wouldn’t want anything else in the OR while I’m having surgery. This is surgery after all. Imagine having heart surgery and the docs and techs are chatting and laughing during the procedure.

Back in 2003 I had some serious blockage in my Aorta artery and the surgeon who did the surgery which involved a stent was playing rock & roll background music while the anesthesiologist was beginning to put me under…there was the rock song “if I could walk 10,000 miles” in the background and the surgeon said, “you’re going to walk 10,000 miles too!” …that’s all I remember when I woke up in the recovery room…anyway, the surgery was a huge success and I was able to increase physical activity considerably!

[HairRun]

At my last procedure, sometimes nobody was talking, sometimes it was just casual bantar here and there.

Edited December 19, 2022 by HairRun

[Z--]

I think Konior put on classic music; and the only conversation I remembered involved him speaking about the grafts. I actually felt the music was incredibly calming.

[Dr. Robert Haber]

As with most things, it depends. One of the great aspects of HT surgery compared with say a busy Derm clinic is the opportunity to get to know our patients, which cannot happen in a 5 minute office visit. My techs do not talk to each other about what they're making for dinner or how their date was last night. Rather they are talking with the patient, and by the end of a long day everyone knows an awful lot about each other! I usually place about half of the grafts myself and enjoy learning about careers I never knew existed. I have become good friends with quite a few patients over the years. If a patient prefers to watch TV we offer all streaming services as well.

[gillenator]

Dr. Haber, it’s a blessing to see your desire to want to know and further connect with your patients, and what an opportunity to get better acquainted than by placing grafts yourself!