Ann Thorac Surg 1996;62:600
© 1996 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Our Surgical Heritage
Memories of a Scrub Nurse
Vina Isach Brooks, RN
Richmond, Virginia
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Abstract
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This article presents remembrances of Dr Evarts A. Graham in surgery by his scrub nurse during the years of 1945 to 1947.
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Introduction
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As a senior student nurse at Washington University School of Nursing in St. Louis in 1945, I chose as my senior elective to work in the operating room at Barnes Hospital. Because these were the war years and so many of the registered nurses had left to join various military services, I was made head nurse of operating room 1, which was Dr Evarts A. Graham's operating room. Because I was a very young girl from a very small town in southern Illinois, I, at the time, did not fully realize the importance of my boss. It was a while before I knew how famous he was. He was always a genteel gentleman. He never had a harsh word for this upstart of a scrub nurse; he never demanded respect, but because of his humility, he was respected by all.
Doctor Graham was a very routine-oriented surgeon (Fig 1
). Miss Helen Lamb gave all his anesthesia. We had to make certain there were soft scrub brushes in the scrub room for him. After only a few weeks, I could anticipate his next move. I spent many nights threading straight needles with 4-0 silk for skin sutures.
Once when The American Association for Thoracic Surgery met in St. Louis, Dr Graham scheduled a pneumonectomy and invited members to observe the operation in the enclosed glass observation gallery. While he was explaining each step to his audience, he had his hand out and I placed his tourniquet, which he used in pneumonectomies for mass ligation, in his hand. Doctor Graham looked at me, and my heart sank, wondering what I had done wrong. He looked up at his colleagues, and he said, "She could do this as well as I can." Talk about an ego booster!
It soon became one of my duties to instruct interns as to operating room protocol. I remember many harsh looks from many interns as I told them where to stand, when to suction, and so on. But, I think, by the end of their rotations I had made some friends and saved a lot of embarrassing moments. If there was a problem, Dr Graham was always available, that is, if you were lucky enough to get by Miss Hanvey (Dr Graham's secretary of many years).
I made one very good "friend" from the housestaff who, in 1947, became my husband. He is a Professor of Surgery and a thoracic surgeon. I am certain he has patterned his morals and medical ethics after such greats as Dr Graham and Dr Isaac Bigger. But at the beginning of my husband's internship, Dr Graham saw him doing foolish things: sleeping on a stretcher, kissing a student nurse. When I came to work one day, flashing my engagement ring, Dr Graham said, "And who is the lucky young man?" I said, "Dr Brooks." His reply was, "Not our Dr Brooks." For a wedding gift, he sent us a serving table, which we still treasure.
After I left Barnes Hospital there were times that we saw Dr Graham at thoracic meetings. He was always friendly and gracious. Only later did I fully realize how fortunate I had been to have had this giant in my life.
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Footnotes
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Address reprint requests to Mrs Brooks, 8714 Standish, 1A, Richmond, VA 23229.
*Disbanded in 1969 to become Barnes Hospital of Nursing; moved to University of Missouri in 1995. 
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Abstract
Introduction
