Return to Surgery.

After an unprecedented four days off from work in the operating room, I returned today to a short list of scheduled cases and a lot of happy-to-be-back coworkers. I suspected that the sour looks many of them had stapled upon their faces hid some kind of appreciation for the job they actually did. After all, it's not just anyone that gets to go in and perform surgery. Even the most disgruntled worker has some iota of respect for that.

It's an all new world in there. The real struggles though have little to do with life and death. They are battles with yourself and how others interact with you. Cliques and pairings are only some of the similarities between the O.R. workplace and any other institution, but the egotism and placating that can be found in surgery makes Grey's Anatomy look like Sunday School.

So what approach would I suggest? Only this: nosce te ipsum. "Know thyself", and be true.

It's the precursor to a long life in surgery work. Once you fall into a crowd you could find yourself marked as one type or another, intentionally or not.

In surgery being yourself is always the best option since the people you will work with are so detail oriented, so astute, that they will ascertain the truth about you without your being aware of ever suggesting it. No lies, no sales pitches, no games. Nosce te ipsum.