All Nurses/Cna's in Ortho

[mejajo08]

I have recently accepted a job offer as a cna on an ortho floor. :) I have worked on surgical stepdown, and cardiology this will be my third unit. I just wanted to know what is it like to be a cna on an ortho floor and what to expect. I have dealed with ortho patients before on the surgical stepdown unit i worked on, but not on a full time basis like I will be doing with my new job. On my previous floors the working conditions were just not tolerable anymore, from having too many patients, nurses not helping you out, no teamwork, and management giving unrealistic expectations. Any insight into the ortho floor would be appreciated!!

Thanks

[LouisVRN, RN]

Ortho is hard work. Many if not all of the patients will need assistance with toileting/walking/bathing. Often times, especially with the older non-elective surgical patients they will need multiple people to assist, that being said, this often fosters a great team atmosphere. But be prepared to stay busy. Ortho patients are also at high risk for skin breakdown, so they will often need to be turned every two hours, have heels floated, etc.

[cwhitebn]

Ortho units are heavy units...so watch your back! All patients (except for some of your rotator cuffs) will require assistance with almost everything they do and therefore it's a risky place to injure yourself so don't do any lifting, etc (in any unit really), alone. The great side about ortho is it's a "clean" unit unlike abdominal surgeries or gyne/uro surgeries. You may also get some trauma patients depending where you work from MVAs.

[Boog'sCRRN246, RN]

As a CNA on an ortho unit, you are going to be busting your *** for the majority of a 12 hour shift. Sorry to sound so crude lol...You'll have patients who are gung-ho to get back to a similar level of functionality and you'll have patients who don't want to (or who physically can't) lift a finger to help themselves.

If you really want to learn how to be effective with transferring patients, getting post-ops out of bed for the first time, moving/lifting patients, etc. see if you can shadow one of the physical therapists on your unit. It will be beneficial so that you don't injure yourself or any of your patients. Just my

[juliaann]

The worst part about working the ortho floor when I was a CNA (my home floor was tele, so I only floated to ortho a few times) was putting together and taking apart the damn overhead trapezes and buck's traction thingymabobs! Ugh! They took 2 people to put together, had to be on the bed before the patient arrived, had to be taken off the bed immediately upon patient's discharge and cleaned (by the CNAs) - housekeeping wasn't allowed to clean the room for the next patient until all "nursing equipment" - including trapezes - was out of the room. And then we'd get the admit slip for the next patient to be admitted to that room - GUESS WHAT? They needed a trapeze and we'd have to put the one we just took down BACK up!!

[mejajo08]

Oh my goodness thanks for all your feed back! Well it sounds like it will be quite an experience working on this unit, I'm glad I am working only 8 hour shifts instead of 12 hour shifts from what I hear. I do hope the teamwork atmosphere is good, the nursing manager said it was when I interviewed for the position.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

I never remember walking on ortho as RN. I always seemed to be semi-running. Patiens can't ambulate usually so they ring their bells more. There were some lulls when peopel went off to theatre, but there is always something to do, preparing the rooms for example.

I don't know the duties of a CNA but get your running shoes on! and if you don't know something, always ask and clarify with the RNs.

[wishinguponastarLPN]

Ortho is tough for both Nurses and CNA's. The ortho floor I work on the nurses are running around giving constant pain meds and us CNA's are running from room to room because ortho patient practically lay on their call light due to not being able to do much for themselves. The general population is getting larger and most of the patients are Max assistance x 2-3 people and because Medicare pays for knee replacements at any age the patients are coming out of surgery with post op confusion.

[mejajo08]

Are there any good things about working in ortho? When I worked in surgical stepdown 90 percent of the patients were organ transplant reciepients (really critical and alot of total cares), and cardiology where I am working now, there are some patients who are self sufficent but for the most part, most are not able to do for themselves either, and we have alot of totals.