Lumbar Fusion

I may be still so excited about this experience I had last week that I am making it fit into my discussion but it really was the first thing that came to mind as I read the Uncertainty Reduction Theory this week. Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to watch a surgery - 2-level lumbar fusion - with a sales rep from my company. The surgeon was using some of our product and my rep was going to be there anyway. He asked if I wanted to go too to see the application of our products. I jumped at the chance! The healthcare industry is a new field for me and, while I don't want to be on the clinical side of care, I am intrigued by it.

With this new experience, though, came uncertainty. My sales rep has been in more surgeries than he can probably count in just the past six months and the process and procedure for it was second nature to him. It was all new to me. I defnitely experienced behavioral and cognitive uncertainty in the time leading up to actually being in the operating room as well as during the procedure. In looking at the eight axioms that explain the uncertainty reduction process, I also went through several of them. I was able to meet the surgeon prior to scrubbing in - he shook my hand and introduced himself with his first name (a rarity with doctors!). It put me at ease of what I was about to see him do and allowed me to feel comfortable asking more questions later. I did ask many questions as I was more comfortable with the situation and mostly asked the sales rep I was with. I generally wanted to know the answers and information but see that it could have been my way of reducing the uncertainty. I definitely used passive and active strategies of communication in this experience!

I still don't want to be on the clinical side of things in healthcare but I hope to watch another surgery very soon!