Surgeon preference card BUILDER.

Build one surgeon’s card for one procedure — or print the blank template and fill it in by hand after the case. Print it, or copy it as plain text and paste it wherever you keep things. It stays in this browser — nothing is uploaded and no account is needed.

Preferences and technique only. Do not put patient names, MRNs or any identifying information on a card.

What is a surgeon preference card?

A preference card is the list of what one surgeon wants for one operation. The hospital keeps a version of it so the scrub tech and the circulator know what to pull and how to set the room up before the patient arrives: positioning, draping, instruments, sutures, implants, glove size, the lot. When it is right, the case starts on time. When it is three years out of date, the room opens things nobody uses and hunts for things nobody opened.

The hospital card is written for the people setting up the room. It is not written for you. It says what goes on the table; it does not say how the surgeon wants the case run, which is the part you are actually being graded on. That second card is the one worth keeping yourself — and it is the one this builder makes.

What goes on one

The builder above is laid out in the six blocks a usable card needs. Fill in the ones you know and leave the rest — a half-filled card you actually wrote beats a complete one you copied.

• Positioning and draping. Supine, lateral, beach chair, prone. Table type, bumps, the arm board, whether fluoroscopy is coming in and from which side, tourniquet or no tourniquet. This is the block that decides whether the room is ready or has to be turned around.
• Procedural steps. The order this surgeon does it in, in their words. Not the textbook order.
• Case cart and instruments. Trays, specific instruments they ask for by name, sutures and sizes, dressings.
• Implants. System, sizes usually opened, what the rep is expected to bring.
• Pearls and pitfalls. The line the surgeon says every single time. This is the highest-value block on the card and the one the hospital version will never have.
• Post-op protocol. Weight bearing, brace, physio, DVT prophylaxis, dressings, when they want them back in clinic. The questions you get asked on rounds the next morning.

How to build one before your next case

1. Put the procedure and the surgeon at the top. One card is one surgeon and one operation — a card that tries to cover two of either is a card nobody trusts.
2. Fill in positioning and draping from the last time you scrubbed it, while you still remember the bump.
3. Write the steps in the order that surgeon does them, in their phrasing.
4. Add the instruments, sutures and implants you saw opened.
5. Write down every line they repeated. That is the pearls block, and it is the reason to have a card at all.
6. Print it, or copy it as text and keep it wherever you keep things. Read it the night before, not in the scrub sink.

Common questions

Is there a blank surgeon preference card template I can print?

Yes. Put the surgeon and the operation at the top, leave every other block empty, and print. You get a one-page blank template with the six headings a usable card needs — positioning and draping, procedural steps, case cart and instruments, implants, pearls and pitfalls, and post-op protocol — ready to write on by hand. Some people print a stack of them at the start of a rotation and fill one in after each case.

What does a surgeon preference card look like?

One surgeon, one operation, one page. The surgeon name and the procedure sit at the top. Under them sit the six blocks above: positioning and draping, the procedural steps in that surgeon’s order, the case cart and instruments, implants and sizes, pearls and pitfalls, and the post-op protocol. A hospital card stops at supplies. The version worth keeping yourself carries how the case is actually run.

Is this preference card builder free?

Yes, and there is no account and no sign-up. The card is built in your browser and never leaves it. Printing it or copying it as text costs nothing. A free account only matters if you want the card to still be there on another device or next rotation.

Can I put patient information on a preference card?

No. A preference card is technique and preference only. No names, no medical record numbers, no dates of birth, nothing that identifies a patient. If you would not read it out in a lift, it does not belong on the card.

How is this different from the hospital preference card?

The hospital card exists so the room gets set up correctly, and it belongs to the hospital. Yours exists so you know how the case runs before you scrub, and it belongs to you — it follows you between rotations and between hospitals, which the hospital card never does.

How often should a surgeon preference card be updated?

Every time something on it turns out to be wrong. Surgeons change implants, trays and habits, and a card that is quietly stale is worse than no card, because it is trusted. Fix it the same day you notice, while you still remember what actually happened.

Can I print the card or save it as a PDF?

Yes. Print / Save as PDF uses your browser's own print dialogue, so choosing "Save as PDF" there gives you a one-page card. Copy as text gives you the same card as plain text for a notes app or a message.

Where does the card get stored?

In this browser only, until you choose otherwise. Nothing is uploaded while you are filling it in. Clearing your site data deletes it, which is why the save-to-account option exists.

More on where the hospital card stops being useful: surgeon preference cards, and why yours should be different. If you are heading into a rotation, start with the orthopaedic rotation guide.