[BlueBear]

Hi everyone! I have volunteered to be the moderator for this forum because I would really like to see the activity level increased on this forum. I know that there are lots of topics we can discuss, we just need to start posting!
I have been an ortho/trauma nurse for over 4 years and am really enjoying it. But, as with any specialty, it is nice to have other people doing the same thing you are that you can ask questions to. Let's try to get this forum going and learn from each other!

[P_RN]

Hi BlueBear. I did ortho for 26 years! I'm an ONC and have been since 1988.

Guess what? I herniated 2 disks at work!! So much for body mechanics. I blame it on the nursing shortage though. Not enough help and more than enough admissions in the middle of the night!

I wish that this place would pick up too. I used to go to the NAON forum, but it seems to be more of a "board meeting" of the officers, than a general discussion. Are you certified in ortho?

P

[BlueBear]

Hi P-RN! Thanks for responding! I was beginning to think I was the only ortho nurse out there.
Yes, I have been to the NAON site as well, and find it very difficult to follow their BB. So, I finally gave up! I hope this one will be a bit more user-friendly.
I have been an ortho/trauma nurse for almost 5 years at a large teaching hospital in northern NJ. I am currently studying to take the cert exam in October. Any suggestions? I am going through the core curriculum book but am beginning to feel overwhelmed. Let me know what worked for you.
Hopefully, we will get a good group of people here and we can discuss ortho nursing and get some of our questions answered. Thanks again for replying. I look forward to "talking" again soon!

[P_RN]

The first time I took the exam was in Orlando in 1989. I finished first and went out into the lobby. It was nearly an hour before anyone else came out! I just knew I had failed!! But I didn't. I have since renewed in 1994 in Nashville & 1999 in Atlanta by taking the exam. Soon they will be giving it at Sylvan centers so the travel expenses won't be so bad.

The test cost $180 to take at the time, but the CEU's (100 ORTHO ones in 5 years) would have cost nearly $1000. It was much cheaper MY way.

They had changed the exam the last time in '99, and I thought it was easier. They had more trauma than before. It was almost all scenarios like the NCLEX. I just read them and thought "what would Dr. So and So do in this case." BTW I worked at a large teaching hospital with an excellent Ortho department. The Moore Prosthesis-remember hearing about that- was developed right there. We also were one of the test sites for press fit total hips. Anyway, that's how I did it in addition to reviewing the Core Curriculum. Good luck. I think that you will have no trouble.

P

[3651bht]

Funny how our lives change over the years.. I went to LPN school in NC in 1979,, Our surgical rotation was almost all orthopaedic.. Remember the skeletal traction and the Kirshcner wires and pin care.. I hated ortho then.. I have been certified since 1999.. I bought the audio tapes from NAON and the CD rom. I found them very helpful...Just watch out for that question about the double total knee. We don't do that very often and it threw me.. Also, brush up on your oncological ortho and OR patients not post op. They like to ask about positioning in the OR... Well, good luck and we are out here.. Unfortunately, I work in PACU. I got nothing at my previous hospital for being certified, I didn't even get to teach the joint classes.. I wonder why nurses are disillusioned..... TTFN

[P_RN]

365 did you go to Atlanta to take the ONC exam? First time I took it there were over 400 people there. 2nd time about 200. In 99 there were only 21 in Atlanta. I don't think too many places pay for certification....it only allowed me one rung up the clinical ladder...Now I can't work at all so......

[Catsrule16]

I'm a geriatric nurse by training. Did 6 months on a floor that was both ortho/neuro and gyn/uro, what a combination. All my years with the elderly really helped on that floor. I really enjoyed it. Left it to go back to working in a Skilled Nursing Facility. Gained a lot of valuable skills while on that floor. Glad I had the chance to work there.

[georgia nurse]

Hi all ortho nurses! I've been doing ortho nursing for 30 years and am passionate about it. I took the first certification test in Phoenix. I studied for a year! I was absolutely positive I had not passed-but lo and behold I did. My hospital allows about $1200 per year for education if you are certified-not bad huh? We are planning to open a dedicated orth unit next spring and I am convinced all those years of orth plus certification will put me in a major postion of responsibility there. I am delighted that this board is here and hope it takes off big time-spread the word!

[P_RN]

Wow a dedicated ortho unit? We had 2 of them...40 beds each.
Then by '99 when I left we couldn't keep 1/2 of a 30 bed unit ortho. Many's the day we had NO orthos because they were all same day/outpatient surgery.

In 1980 a total hip stayed 2-3 weeks. In '99 we had 2 docs that discharged them straight to the rehab hospital after PACU.

[3651bht]

Nope. Boston. Atlanta's a little stretch from Maine. Pretty country though. I lived in NC for eight years.. Love that Atlanta Speedway.. Also, there is a small restuarant outside Atlanta that used to be a slave quarters.. Small entry way with pics of many celebrities ie Sinatra, Ali, etc.. Do you know the name of the place. I'd love to go back there some day.. Love southern cooking. Miss my hush puppies and those cinnamon biscuits from Hardee's.. But, I'm a Mainah through and through I suppose...

P.S. I think I was the only one taking the ortho exam.. Only about 75 -100 in the room....