Med surg tele, very heavy pts. We get 6 at night. Recently they've been cutting staff so now we sometimes take 7. This is very unsafe imo but they are more concerned about the budget than safety.
ER never calls to give report. Half the time transport doesn't call to let us know the pt is coming. I have never spoken to anyone from ER. I'm shocked this actually happens! I'm on med surg tele.
I'm currently a med surg tele nurse with almost a year of experience on this floor. I have 6 pts per shift, all of whom have varying levels of acuity. Sometimes I'll get heavy surgical patients, basic medical diabetes and cellulitis-type pts, and eve...
Thank you all for your advice! This week I am going to shadow a CRNA friend of mine and get some tips from her, so I'm definitely excited for that. I would like to get a job in ICU as soon as possible, but with my limited floor experience, I'm not s...
After spending a year and a half in the OR as a circulating nurse (right out of nursing school), I became very interested in anesthesia. I left the OR to eventually pursue CRNA school as my "end game", and I'm now on a very heavy post-surgical/teleme...
acerbia replied to SandraFenway's topic in Operating Room
We have preop RNs that check in the patient. When the pt arrives, the preop RN is the one that receives them. They start IVs, get a height/weight, toilet, give preop meds, abx, make sure an NP/PA or resident does the H&P, obtain surgical consent,...
OR definitely has pros and cons. I won't repeat a lot of the great posts here so far, but some things that haven't been mentioned already are your nursing skills - You won't use any of these in the OR. CRNAs do the meds, blood, intraoperative monitor...
acerbia replied to CaliNurseLouisiana's topic in New Nurse
Wow. Just... Wow. I feel for you, trust me. I am in a very similar situation. First, do you get a morning break? At my facility, we get an AM break, lunch at 11, done by 3. We do 35-40 surgeries/day, though some weeks are lighter than others. In my s...
acerbia replied to FutureResearchRN's topic in Operating Room
In my OR, the circulating nurse or whoever is assisting with the surgeon (resident or medical student with supervision/permission) will place the Foley. We have Surgical Technologists ("scrub techs") but not "OR techs", per se. Scrubs have gone to sc...
How are the people you work with? Are they team players? Do the cliques help non-clique co-workers? Do they cause drama or throw people under the bus? If you don't feel comfortable with your co-workers (on a fundamental level, not on a personality le...
We only have 1 team on Saturdays and Sundays, all shifts. If the "weekend team" needs a break because doctors have been doing lap chole after lap chole, the call team will be called in to give them a break/lunch, etc. Instead of standing up to the do...
I agree completely with this post, OP. I was one of the disillusioned new nurses that thought going to the OR would be a valuable experience, but it is nothing like I thought it would be. We are not respected at all in the OR, and the surgeon turn...
I've inserted a foley on a male patient, without resistance and no blood in the urine return, etc. When I removed it later, there was blood on the end. The balloon was fully deflated, and I don't think he had any documented prostate issues. I charted...
Interesting to see what they do at other ORs... Mine is going for the level 2 trauma cert, and we were told that "anyone" can do trauma and you don't need any special skills or experience. They said all you need is a blade, prep, drapes, and hemostat...