Calling all GI nurses !!

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

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.

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.

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.

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)

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!