[Mave RN]

What smell?

[Marie_LPN]

Infected tissue, cautery burning through tissue, blood has a slight scent sometimes.

[Marie_LPN]

If the case you're watching is posted as I and D or "Incision and Drainage", it has a high chance of being rank.

[Corvette Guy]

Originally Posted by Marie_LPN

If the case you're watching is posted as I and D or "Incision and Drainage", it has a high chance of being rank.

Plus, if necrotizing fascitis is involved... get the little wintergreen bottle, ASAP. Yes, some don't like the wintergreen smell, yet it is the better alternative & does mask the foul odor, IMHO.

[Fun2Care]

So, isn't it true that if you ask if you can ask questions, that you are asking a question without asking if it's ok first? J/K

I enjoyed reading your post, and I hope I get many chances to observe in the OR.....without passing out.

[StudentNurseMommyof3]

I just did my clinical rotation this week, and found where I want to be. All your info was given to me by my instructor, but I found the staff and doctors to be very friendly. I scrubbed in each time, each doctor had me come up and assist, assess (feel, look, move things around, etc), they explained things to me, the crna's and Dr. of anest, showed my how to incubate, let me see down the scope, help incubate, etc. It was so wonderful. So much different from the floor, this is certainly where I belong!

[sunnyjohn]

Great post Marie.

I can't tell you how many students have made me so nervous because they had no idea what was going on. I am going to print this out and give it to folks in charge so they can give it to all the studnets that come into the OR.

[crmson_lady]

Great post! I'm a senior nursing student and I can't tell you how many times these points were told to us. Our teachers told us many of these exact things before we went to our OR rotations. They wanted us to be thoroughly prepared for the experiences. Of course there were still the students who were clueless and were asked to leave the rooms.

[mandaleigh]

I am in the middle of clinicals and had my OR observation day today. It was more relaxed than I expected. The circulating nurses were awesome!! Available for questions during the surgeries and FRIENDLY!!!! The surgeons were relatively friendly, but I honestly didn't even expect them to acknowledge our presence. A few of the scrub nurses just acted like we weren't there which was okay with me. They didn't give a lot of 'dos and don'ts', basically we could stand anywhere that wasn't directly in the way, where we could see, and not contaminate. It was interesting BUT, I don't think that is the nursing for me. I really am better at the bedside nursing, dealing with the patient's everyday needs; physical and emotional. For those who love it, that's great!!

[tx2007]

Another thing I learned yesterday, when putting your lead up DO NOT fold it in half, this will weaken or break the lead and it wont be as effective. Place your lead UNFOLDED back where you got it and DO NOT drop them heavily either as this will cause weakening and breakage as well.