This board is about medical oddities. Since I'm a consultant, not a doctor. I have a few medical nits concerning the show that (hopefully) can be cleared up by a medical professional.
Here goes, the nurses usually wear their masks diffrently. The Doctors (and most male charaters in the OR) have the mask tied behind their head. On the other hand, the nurses usually have one stap behind the head and one stap on the top of their head. (I'm not sure about Klinger.) Is this some medical thing I don't know about, or is a costuming thing?
Okay, I'm a nurse, one who works in the OR often doing C-Sections (I'm the circulator, or the "Rover"). I tie my mask behind my head, like they men do in M*A*S*H. I've also seen women criscross them. Men, mainly, tie them straight. I think the reason is that it is easier to tie them on yourself if you crisscross the ties, and the docs have somebody else tie the mask for them. Just a guess.
It's funny-I was watching an episode on tape last night & had that same question! Your explanation, Lilith, makes sense. Kind of like why buttons on men's & women's shirts are opposite-doing it yourself as opposed to having it done for you.
'Nother medical observation. They did a great job depicting 50's CPR, as it were. The thump on the chest they always did before starting CPR is no longer done, but a good touch, as it was done in the 50's. And the epi on a cardiac needle? Nice touch as well. I think they did well with portraying medicine as it was 20 years prior to the advent of the show, what does everybody else think?
I thought so, but some things like BJ inventing the defibulator struck me as a bit far fetched.
Very, very true, Newt. What about their dialysis machine? Puh-leese.
Okay, I posted this somewhere else, but this spot seems more appropriate. In OR, one of the docs had a stethescope with a double lumen, trademark of a Sprague stethescope. However, I don't think Sprague-Rappaport was even around in the 50's.
Another thought about M*A*S*H and medicine. There was once an episode where they transplanted an aorta into a wounded soldier. Now, my specialty is not in venicular transplant, but I know a little about transplant, and from what I know, wouldn't there have been some concern about rejection? I don't even reember there being the slightest mention of that possibility. Does anybody know why?
Isn't that the one with the ticking clock?
They should have mentioned it, but probably didn't care because they were doing "meatball surgery", trying to save the guys life. They'd probably let the 8063'rd or Tokyo/Guam/Stateside hospitals deal with the rejection issue.