The Look-Alikes on the Mayo Stand

In practice

The case is a bowel resection, and the Mayo stand holds several pairs that are easy to confuse in a hurry. The first pair is a curved Mayo and a Metzenbaum. Both are curved scissors. The scrub person, Sky, tells them apart by proportion: the Mayo is heavy with short blades, the Metzenbaum long and slender with fine tips. When the surgeon asks to cut fascia, Sky passes the Mayo; when the surgeon asks for scissors to dissect delicate tissue, Sky passes the Metzenbaum. The second pair is an Allis and a Babcock. From the handles they look the same. Sky looks at the jaws: interlocking teeth mean Allis, a smooth rounded window means Babcock. When the surgeon asks for something to hold the bowel that will stay, Sky passes the Babcock. The third pair is a toothed Adson and an Adson-Brown, both small thumb forceps; one has a single tooth fitting between two, the other rows of fine teeth. Sky keeps them on opposite sides of the stand so the surgeon's request maps to a place. The fourth is the needle holder and the clamps beside it. Sky keeps the loaded needle holder in a fixed spot, separate from the hemostats, so that a hurried grab does not produce a clamp when a needle is needed.