Preadmission Testing RN's

Nursz-R-Awsm · Nov 17, 2001

Ayanna,

Could you explain what a preadmission testing nurse does? Please forgive my ignorance. I haven't heard of it before.

Thanks,

Lisa

funnynurse · Nov 17, 2001

Believe it or not, I had not heard of preadmission testing nurses until I applied for the position! The preadmission testing department I work in is located in a hospital. We do preadmission testing for patients who are going to have surgery. We take histories and perform physicals, draw their lab work and do EKG's depending on what the surgeon has ordered, or if their is no lab work ordered, we go by anesthesia guidelines. If a patient comes in through the emergency room and they are going to have surgery, if they don't have a h&P, we do them. Most times though the surgical resident or surgeon will do them in those cases. We also will do h&P's(histories and physicals) on the day of surgery and the preop RN's will do their lab work.

To work in preadmission testing, you have to have a BSN(BSN programs require you to take a physical assessment class) or have taken the physical assessment course if you don't have a BSN. I like the job because it allows me to sit down and talk to patients. I don't have to pass meds or deal with the hussle and bussle of the floor. We can wear scrubs or casual clothes with a lab coat and we don't have to work weekends, rotate or do the holiday thing. For me, it is a dream nursing job, but I do it as a casual. In our dept. there are 3 FT nurses and about 5 part time nurses. 4 of us are casuals. The dept. is flexible enough to let you leave early if you have a dr's appt. or something else you need to do. That sums it up.

Nursz-R-Awsm · Nov 20, 2001

Wow, that sounds like a nice job. I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever need a change!

Thanks for the reply!

Lisa

funnynurse · Jun 27, 2002

Okay, no one has responded since 2001??? Am I the only nurse on this website doing this type of work????

SHELLYBELLYRN · Jul 3, 2002

I am in Northwest Ohio...........don't know if they have these positions in our part of the state........

meandragonbrett · Jul 11, 2002

In our One Day surgery unit, we don't have a particular RN that's assigned to do the PAE's (Pre admission Evaluation) all the time. A different nurse is assigned to the PAE\Lab to do them. Our RNs float from Pre-op, holding, PACU, Post-op, and PAE\Lab. It's a good system and it works, and it really cuts down on our pre-op times from about 1hour to just under 30minutes. When our patients come in they've already had their EKG and labs done and all they have to do is get changed and get a line started. It works great, but then there are the patients who refuse to come in before to have it done and we have to do it the morning of.

Brett

funnynurse · Jul 13, 2002

I've heard our same day nurses aren't interested in doing pat, while I'm not interested in working sameday preop, so just doing pat is fine with me. As for pacu, those nurses just do that only. I'm glad I don't have to float. Thanks for the reply.:)

AMV · Sep 26, 2002

I work in Day Surgery in the Dallas area and we have 2 full-time nurses who do Pre Admissions Testing and a few of us (from Day Surgery also) who fill in when PAT is busy. I too, love working in this area and our unit is extremely flexible with our schedule.

I do pre-op and also do PAT. I love the one-on-one with the patients, patient teaching, etc. My understanding is that in this area, most hospitals DO have a PAT dept.

funnynurse · Sep 27, 2002

The one on one with patients is the best part of the job. I give them 100% during the appointment and this really helps with how they view the hospital. We are the first nurses these patients see in the hospital and it is our job to make them feel at ease. I have different pamphlets I give out during the appointment (je: smoking cessation, BSE, diet info etc.) and really try to do as much teaching as possible during the session. I really love what I do and it is unfortunate that other nurses are in jobs that they hate. Again, thanks for the reply.

;)

eieiyo · Oct 5, 2002

I work in a small hospital in Oregon. I do the preop phone calls and sometimes get to interview the patients for the health history. We are trying to expand this position, but change happens slowly in this hospital. I am not assigned specific days to do the preop, mostly hit and miss. This makes it hard. Also we do short stay surgery and recovery room.

However we now finally have a new DNS in the hospital who has big ideas for the preop area. She wants me to be able to do more face-to-face interviews and draw labs, set up physical therapy and ECG's. So maybe eventually my job will be more involved and work into a set schedule. Any advice or help would be very appreciated.

Thanks,

Yolie

MrsK1223 · Jan 18, 2003

I want this job!!!!!!!!