Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

nekochan · Joined: 18 Jun 2007 Posts: 62

letting curious pet owners, who wana watch their pets being operated
into the op room, minus proper attire, face mask, shoes and
yakking away with the vet, is this a good practice?

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

Letting clients into the operating room, is definitely not a good idea - for sterility (depending on the set up of the op room) and they may get in the way. But if they must watch, maybe watching it from afar, say through a window or cctv is better. However, I find that there are lots of cons to this. Some pet owners can be very anxious about their pets and may panic, or worse, faint when they see blood. And even if they're watching the surgery, they might not know exactly what is happening, which can lead to confusion for them. Plus, they make the surgeons more nervous and can be a distraction. They need full concentration for the surgery.

varanus · Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 472

I totally agree with Dr Nat. Letting owner into the Surgical theater is a no no. Sterility is one major concern. Even if the owner is properly prep, I still think it is not approriate. Anything can happen during surgery. Surgeon is trained to face complication but not the owner. Accidental cutting of blood vessel causing blood to shoot randomly is possible in some of the surgery. Surgeon and nurse are trained to handle these but not the owner. What do you think the owner's reaction is. Changes in pulse and respiration rate, blood pressure, Sp O2, happen in every surgery depending on the level of pain and the anaesthetic class. The sensor's beeping, alarm siren... can cause the owner to panic and even hysteria.

If owner insist, perhaps you can allow them into viewing gallery some surgery room has or view through CCTV. But I still think it is better to let the owner wait for call.

fhinz · Joined: 25 Aug 2006 Posts: 295 Location: KL or Miri

for me, i think I better wait then watch. And, some owners might get the wrong ideas when they watch the operations as they themselves maybe don't know anything about the way of operations but pretend they know everything. you know, "~censored~ sombong".

Dr Dunker · Joined: 02 Jun 2006 Posts: 466 Location: Puchong,Selangor

Well, if i had to enter the OR and i was the one that was going under the knife, I will not want anyone else that is not involved with the surgery in there...but i must say, allowing the public in and yacking away is a very odd practice to put it mildly.