Here is a puzzle for you to solve !
Your surgeon has collapsed in the coffee room. You must get the defibrillator fast. There are 5 operating rooms and each has its own defibrillator. Unfortunately, only one of the five defibrillators are working ! Which operating room has the working defibrillator ?
There are clues given below which will allow you to definitely work out in where the working defibrillator is.
Do NOT use your medical knowledge , e.g. which fluids for a pediatric case etc. This is a riddle , not a medical exam !
The solution to the riddle involves no guessing. You can definitely solve it with the clues provided below:
First, here is the setting:
There is a Hospital with five operating rooms arranged in a row and there is a case going on in each one of them.
- There are five defibrillators , one in each operating room. Unfortunately , only ONE of them is in working order. The other four are not in working and each one of these has a different fault ( Broken switch ; No batteries ; Broken paddles ; Missing wires)
- Each operating room does only one type of specialty and there are five different specialties. These are : Orthopedic, Neuro, Trauma, Paediatric, Cardiac.
- Each operating room has only one Anesthetist. They are : Chang, John , Mumtaz , Sol , Pras.
- There are five different types of fluids , and each theatre is using a DIFFERENT one. The fluids are : Saline, Blood, Dextrose, Plasma, Colloid.
- There are five different types of airway, and each theatre is using a DIFFERENT one. The available airways are: Standard tracheal tube, Armoured tracheal tube, Curved tracheal tube (RAE) , Face mask airway, Laryngeal mask airway
Here are clues that will definitely give you the answer:
- As shown above, John is working in the first operating room.
- Mumtaz is working in the Neuro operating room.
- Pras has the defibrillator with the broken switch.
- Sol is using Dextrose.
- When looking at the operating rooms from front, the Paediatric operating room is immediately left (for left and right, look at diagram above) to the Trauma operating room.
- The anesthetist in the Paediatric operating room is using Saline.
- The anaesthetist using the standard tracheal tube has the defibrillator without wires
- The anaesthetist in the Cardiac operating room is using a Face Mask Airway
- The anesthetist in the middle operating room is infusing Plasma to the patient
- The anesthetist who is using the laryngeal mask airway is working adjacent to the operating room that has the defibrillator with broken paddles
- The anesthetist who has the defibrillator with no batteries is working adjacent to the operating room using the face mask airway
- The anesthetist using the armoured tracheal tube is giving blood to the patient
- Chang is using the curved tracheal tube
- John is working adjacent to the Orthopedic operating room
- The anesthetist using the laryngeal mask airway is working adjacent to the operating room where colloid is being given to the patient.
- The surgeon has had a cardiac arrest in the coffee room and is on his way to hell. Please save him. You are running towards the operating rooms to collect the defibrillator.
Now here is the big question !
Which operating room has the one working defibrillator ? Is it Orthopedic, Neuro, Trauma, Pediatric, or Cardiac ?
Note: Do not use your medical knowledge to solve it. You do not need to guess anything as all necessary information is in the 15 clues. You will need a paper and pen ( I think !) .
(I am not very good at puzzles, but managed to solve it in about half an hour. Once you do the puzzle, please do let me know how long you took.)
Once you think you have worked out where the working defibrillator is ( Orthopedic, Neuro, Trauma, Pediatric, or Cardiac ), scroll down for the answer !
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The working defibrillator is in operating room 4 !
This is the Paediatric operating room where Chang is using a curved tracheal tube and is giving Saline to the patient. You are grateful that Chang had checked that the defibrillator was working.
You give some shocks to the surgeon. You manage to save his life. He gets up and says to you,
“Hurry up! Why are you wasting time ? Quickly anaesthetise my patient, I have work to do.”
By the way, if you got the answer wrong, here is a table showing the correct answer:
