Messy Anesthesia Cart

There are few things more annoying to me than walking into the operating room and finding somebody's mess all over my anesthesia cart. I feel it's the equivalent of going into the restroom and finding somebody had soiled the toilet seat and didn't bother to clean it up. Or sitting down at a restaurant and finding food bits still stuck to the utensils. Yuck.

Look at what some thoughtless anesthesiologist left on my cart the other day after he finished his case. There's a half used syringe of propofol, a half dozen used needles scattered haphazardly around the cart top, multiple bottles of used drugs, and a heating pad for God knows what body part he was trying to relieve his aches and pains. Disgusting. This is not as bad as other hospitals I've worked in. I'll always remember one place where I found syringes of unused narcotics and benzos still sitting unattended on the cart. You talk about a drug addict's paradise.

Our OR cleaning crew have been told specifically to never touch anything on the anesthesia carts. Therefore it's up to the anesthesiologist ALONE to clean up his own mess. So if you're an anesthesiologist reading this, please clean up after yourself. I know you can do it. You managed to go through college, medical school, and residency so you must have some level of personal responsibility. You wouldn't leave this kind of mess for your spouse to clean up at home so why would you disrespect your colleagues by leaving this repulsive, and dangerous, trash heap on the anesthesia equipment? Clean it up. Don't make me call your mother.