SANDRA: SURGICAL NURSE

The awesome interior of an operating room, the domain of the surgical nurse, comes into full view as we participate with Sandra in the tense drama of saving lives alongside a team of skilled nurses, anesthetists and surgeons in an understaffed general hospital in Indiana. Amid the sequence of emergency operations described in some detail, a tedding romance takes shape between Sandra and the moody, strange Doctor Rand, surgeon excellence. Despite her condemnation of Rand's insensitivity to people, Sandra is fascinated by the man who believes his own inadequacy caused his father's death. His less complicated brother, Doctor Frank, pursues Sandra as well, but to no avail. Through fires, plans crashes and a variety of emergency cases, Sandra and Rand work side by side until in a fit of guilt for having failed in a cardiac massage, Rand abandons his career and Sandra, until yet another catastrophe forces his return. Rand's decision to prevent amputation of Frank's mangled arm redeems his brother and his own career. Future surgical nurses may find this interesting from a professional viewpoint if not from a literary one. The contrived series of final calamities, one hot on the heels of the other, bears a strong resemblance to soap opera realism and releases us from any dramatic grip.