ANDRZEJ KRAUZE
In an operating room, under the knife, a patient’s life is in the hands not just of the surgeon wielding the scalpel, but of an entire team of health-care providers. Some read vital signs or administer drugs, while others prep equipment and review the patient’s medical records. And in the split seconds when a patient’s condition slips from auspicious to grim, they have to react as a team as well. At such moments, wouldn’t it be nice if one of those team members happened to have instant recall of an entire medical reference library?
In the Cleveland Clinic’s simulated operating room for doctors-in-training, medical professors commonly stage just such scenarios, using a manikin and a scripted drama—of a patient spontaneously bleeding out, for instance. At ...
