do you HAVE to assist with circs?

suzanne4, RN · Apr 10, 2006

It has never been an issue any place that I have been, whether to assist with circs or to assist with abortions. There are always some that do not wish to assist, and it hasn't been an issue. Administration is flexible that way, as long as it is covered..................

RNmommy · Apr 10, 2006

We may opt out but nobody does. FTR, I am opposed to circs for my own kids but I don't have a problem assisting with circs. In fact, I think that I take extra care to make the baby as comfortable as possible becasue of my personal views. I have no problem asking the doc to wait until the baby has had two full miutes of his Sweetease or for the lidocaine to be effective.

Mrs.S · Apr 10, 2006

Where I used to work we had a family practice doctor who did them without anesthesia :angryfire . I refused to help with those. nobody made a stink about that.

RNmommy · Apr 10, 2006

Mrs. S, I would refuse tp assist with that, too.

nursejohio, ASN, RN · Apr 10, 2006

When I was doing an internship in transitional nursery, I got to watch a few. The residents always used lido, some of their blocks weren't the best, but at least they tried. :uhoh3: The older MDs would say that the lido hurt as much as a quick clamp application and would do it without. After hearing the bloodcurdling screams from the 1st one I saw without lido, I checked the P&P manual and found out that local anesthesia is a hospital requirement. I filled out an incident report on each and every doc that did it without. I don't know if it did any good, but it certainly made me feel better that at least I was trying to make them accountable for what they were doing to the babies:nono:

fergus51 · Apr 10, 2006

I refuse and it's never been a problem, but I am always upfront about this before taking the job.

Keeps · Jun 2, 2006

The NBN nurse is responsible for assisting with circs. I have never had anyone say that they wouldn't assist but I'm betting my Director would not be very supportive about it. We do have some OB's that wont do it and it is always an issue if they are covering for an MD that does. Pts get very upset.

SuperFlyRN · Jun 5, 2006

We assist (not really given an option not to now that I think about it!) every circ. And believe it or not, only a third of our OB's use any sort of anesthestic (Ametop, 24%Sucrose, LIdo, etc)

KellNY, RN · Jun 5, 2006

FTR--A pacifier dipped in sugar water is not an anesthetic. It's a distractant at best.

analee23 · Jun 5, 2006

FTR--A pacifier dipped in sugar water is not an anesthetic. It's a distractant at best.

Have you ever used sweetease? My dad is a pediatrician that does circumcisions, he uses lido and sweetease, I use sweetease routinely for iv starts and assisting with lumbar punctures (I work in the ER now). Sweet ease has an analgesic effect in babies, it actually helps to block pain receptors, it DOES work to help the baby with pain -- especially if the baby is less than 30 days.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1088-145X.2005.00002.x?cookieSet=1

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/494502_print

Graciegirlienurse · Jun 7, 2006

I work in a large teaching hospital, shortly after my hire I told my nurse manager about my ethical objection to circumcision. I explained that i am opposed to permanantly altering someones body, especially thier genitals, without thier consent, with no medical necessity. it was never a problem, but at my hospital we can opt out of anything that we are ethically opposed to, abortion, physician assisted suicide etc. There are several nurses at my hospital who do not assist with circs.

here are some web sites about nurses who dont want to do circs

http://nurses.cirp.org/

http://www.circumstitions.com/nurses.html

here are some good info sites about circumcision

http://www.nocirc.org/

http://mothersagainstcirc.org/

just think, if all nurses refused to assist with this unethical procedure, maybe it would stop.