IN THE OPERATING room of a large, well-known hospital, it was the nurse’s first day on the medical team…

 

She was responsible for ensuring all instruments and materials were accounted for before completing the final steps of the operation.  She said to the surgeon, “You’ve only removed 11 sponges.  We used 12 sponges, and we need to find the last one.”

 

“I removed them all,” the doctor declared emphatically.  “We’ll close the incision now.”

 

“No,” the rookie nurse objected, “we used 12 sponges.”

 

“I’ll take the responsibility,” the surgeon said grimly.  “Suture.”

 

“You can’t do that, sir,” blazed the nurse.  “Think of the patient.”

 

The surgeon smiled and lifted his foot, showing the nurse the twelfth sponge.  “You’ll do just fine in this or any other hospital.”

 

THOUGHT:  When you know you’re right, you can’t back down.  Dennis Waitley, “Your Absolute Bottom Line,” Priorities Magazine

 

“He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known.”  Proverbs 10.9

 

  Mike Benson