CHICAGO, IL – It’s no secret that Dr. Mike Flannigan likes to watch the prep dry on all his patients. According to numerous sources he is quite prone to arriving during intubation, rechecking the positioning and then rushing out of the room to scrub. After returning, gloving and gowning he seeks out the best spot. “It’s exhilarating. I can’t imagine any other job in medicine. I know I have to wait 2 minutes with iodine and 3 minutes with ChloraPrep so why not get a front row seat!”
Surgical techs and circulators have noted it for some time and routinely expect his arrival well before paged or called. It’s nice to hear his commentary on our work. He uses little terms of endearment like, “What’s taking so long? Is this the first time you all have done this? Seriously, it’s like we are reinventing the wheel every time.”
Sometimes he rewards the team by waiting until the prep stick is thrown away and pointing out a small area needing “one more swipe, it’ll make me more comfortable.” At press time, Flannigan was mesmerized by the small pool of prep in the umbilicus muttering to himself, “Don’t touch it… Don’t touch it.”
