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Comment by bryanlarsen | Hacker News Reader

And from anecdote, so should mothers. Early morning (~8AM) you get the A staff at their prime and are often the first case so it is usually timely.

The worst time is 6:30AM (or whenever half an hour before changeover is). You either get C staff and/or people who have been awake for 24 hours. The surgeon probably called that time so they could book night rates.

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Additionally, you're not supposed to eat before a C-section.

If you have yours at 8am, then your last meal was dinner, maybe 12-13 hours ago. If you have yours at 4pm, then you might not have eaten for 20 hours.

Surgeons usually prefer to start operating before 8AM. They are awake, the OR is clean, the staff is fresh, and they have all day afterward to monitor for complications (and jet out early if everything goes well). The worst surgery times are probably starting around 7PM and going until 6AM. Those are usually emergencies, the OR has been in use all day, the surgeon probably has less experience as they are earlier in their career, the preferred materiel might be waiting to be autoclaved, etc.

In my experience with surgery for family members, surgeons want scheduled surgeries early because they have a shit ton to do. The brain surgeon was rallying the troops at 5:30am and was pissed they were already behind on the first surgery. He needed to do the scheduled surgeries early because he needed to have a certain amount of time for emergency surgeries. If those occurred early, then he could push the scheduled surgeries later. If the emergencies occurred later, then he’s done with the scheduled surgeries by then.

Then in the late morning and rest of the day, it was patient rounds and consultations, teaching at the local medical school, and performing research. Guy was a machine and on another level. I don’t know when he was ever able to have a non-medical or patient related thought.

Perhaps while playing rock music, designing land-speed record-breakers or saving the world from extra-dimensional alien invasion.

Sorry, couldn't resist the Buckaroo Banzai call-out.

Next time try harder.

The surgeon is usually an OBGYN. At least that’s what’s most common at the hospital we had our 3 at. It was the attending OBGYN from the practice my wife goes to. They are both run by the same place.

Not sure how it works for small hospitals.

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