[EndoRN]

I've been lurking around this site for a couple years. This GI section is really sloooooow......
Where are you guys? Tell me about yourselves! Please! I'm so bored right now.

Me, I've been doing GI about 4 yrs. now. Prior to that I was a med/surg nurse. I've also worked in a family practice office and as a home health nurse (briefly).
I worked in the GI lab at a hospital for a year or so. Since then I've been working in an outpatient surgery center, which is heavenly! We only do upper/lower endoscopies. No bronchs/ERCP's or anything else. 99% of our procedures are diagnostic (vs. therapeutic) so I rarely see GI bleeds, food boluses, etc. anymore. Sometimes I actually miss that.....but....I DON'T miss taking call and working Saturdays!

Anybody else alive out there???

Amy

[Scopette]

I agree. this site is really slow. Where is everyone???

[MrsK1223]

Hi guys! I'm a GI nurse now....been at it a couple of months now. Except I do do the ERCP's, bronchs etc....since we are an ambulatory unit, we also do TEE's, lumbar punctures, trigger zone injections, epidurals, blood transfusions, your colons and egd's, infusions and eeg's. I've checked here a while and there's not much being said here. I work a Saturday here and there but not often and no call. Just the tech's do call and we're on call if we are sent home early due to no procedures to do which hasn't happened often but I've never got called back in. Working in this GI lab has renewed my interest in nursing as I was not willing to go under the emotional and physical torment medsurg puts upon us (its not for me). I worked in dermatology and psych before this. I'm really happy to be using some nursing skills, like IV's and conscious sedation and the whole bit without having a dozen or so patients to be responsible for at one time. I would like to explore outpatient surgery too one day. Come back and chat guys.

[Scopette]

I've been doing endo for (gulp) almost 10 yrs now... Its been a great area. we do new stuff all the time and there's always something new. We're starting to do some therapuetic Bronchs now too. Until I started in endo, I was always looking for another profession but I love medical stuff; science and working with 'most' pts...... Lately the administrative crap has been making me think about going to a small satelite place....but I'd miss the unusual stuff. not sure i'd want to do colons & egds all the time.

[EndoRN]

Scopette,
Yah, I do miss all that stuff. I just don't miss HOSPITALS !! I love it here at the surgery center. Maybe someday I'll go back to the hospital. Right now, No. I have such a busy life, 4 kids and I teach aerobics as a part time job. So taking call is really hard. I use to have to leave the beeper w/the desk staff at the club. They'd come wave at me if it went off. Sigh....end of class. Thankfully, it wasn't too frequently, though.
I just joined SGNA and I always attend all the workshops (I have a Mich. license that requires CEU's to maintain.) So I keep as current as possible. I know, not as good as the real thing, though!
So for now, lots of polpectomys and biopsies and that's about all.

Amy

[patsue53]

HI Amy...thanks for asking!
I've been working in GI for about 7 years now. I've had my CGRN for 4 years. I really love it, but do get tired of the call. I don't mind Saturday's so much because we're only open from 8 to noon on Saturdays.

There's the potential for working in a free-standing clinic within the next year or so, but I'm not sure I want to do just butts and guts. I really like the esophageal manometry, 24 hour pH studies because they offer autonomy as well as skill and knowledge. And even though ERCP's can be stressful there's a certain amount of self-satisfaction in a job well done. Especially when you can save a patient from a big surgery.

Does your clinic pay as well as the hospital? The doctors opening the new clinic have been heard to say that they don't expect they'll have to pay as much as the hospital because there won't be call and weekends.

Anyway...good to get to know you. I'll try to check into this forum more often.

[EndoRN]

Patsue,
I think the pay is probably less than at the hospitals. The base rate is pretty comparable (at least around here) at 22.00$. But there is no shift differential or call pay.
The hours are also very variable. I guess it usually works out to a 35 hr. wk.

Amy

Thank for checking in. !!
Congrats on your GI cert. I just joined SGNA this year. I am very interested in becoming certified. But I would definitely have to be back in the hospital first. I've never done an ERCP in my life.....

[patsue53]

Never done an ERCP? There are days when I wish I could say that! LOL There's alot of technical skill and coordination involved with wires in an ERCP. The medicating is conscious sedation, but gets a little tricky because it usually takes more than your normal endo procedure. We have one doc who has gone to MAC anesthesia with all ERCP's after having 2 patients code in 2 weeks! (believe me that's not the ordinary. We dont' have 2 codes in a year in our dept.)

What about esophageal or anorectal manometry? Eso Manometry is becoming my favorite part of my job.
(except for days like today when the lady dry swallowed continuously throughout the study. grrrrr)

[Scopette]

When they took Droperidol (Inapsine) away from us a year or so ago; most of aur docs started using MAC for sedation on ERCPs. It sure makes it easier. Seems most of our ERCPs are therapuetic and now the gi nurse can help the tech and everyone is happier!

[EndoRN]

We only use anesthesia sedation at our surgery center. It's heavenly!
I have seen ERCP's. I actually spent half a day watching them, to see if I wanted to work there. (this was back when I was in the hospital. They had an ERCP team. It was separate from the GI lab). Anyway, it was soooooo dark and looooong and boring. And the lead aprons.....I said "no thanks!".
That other stuff (the manometry stuff) I've never even seen!!
Someday.....
Right now I'm pretty happy. My job is so easy. Anesthesia sedation. An RN to assist. An RN to circulate. Diagonostic colonoscopies and upper endoscopies.

That's weird about the droperidol. That happened after I left. I've forgotten the rationale for why they stopped using it. Was it because of arrythmias or something like that?

We've had to stop using the cetacaine spray, per request of a couple of our MD's. Are the incidences of desaturation really that common?

Amy