Calling patients down for surgery

Specialties Operating Room

Published

My question is, in your facility (if hospital) who is responsible for calling the floors for inpatients who are pre-op? Is it the circulator, the scrub, the manager of OR, or the recovery room?

Thanks.

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At the medical center where I currently work (20-room OR) the nurse manager, AKA "board runner" calls for inpatients.

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Thanks spineCNOR.

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where I work an 12 room OR. the circulator in the room calls the floor and pre-ops the patient, then calls the desk and tells the boardrunner when to send. we also have to ask the floor if the patient has special needs. the circulator where I work has a lot of phone calls they have to make. we call and send for patients. call family to let them know surgery has started, beep the anesthesia MD. beep the surgeron to let them know their patient is in the room. we beep the attendants for positioning help or moving help or whatever. we call PACU to let them know we are bringing a pt. to them. as well as answering the surgerons beeper!!!! I spend so much time of the phone I can't do my job!!!!!

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Specializes in CVOR,CNOR,NEURO,TRAUMA,TRANSPLANTS.

Where I have worked , which I can say have been fairly large ORs the Board runner calls for the patients on the floor, it is my job as the circulator to inform her of how my room is running so the next patient will be ready after a turn over in the room. If the case isnt going so well it will help with the next patients and family anxiety but not sitting in pre-op so long due to the previous case run over. Depending on what the next case is the Anesthesia will be in pre-op doing lines and epidurals and blocks for the case.

Yes I have to agree with the above post, if I could rip the phone out of my room while Im in a case I could get some things done, I can tell you the phone is there , and it serves a purpose but when I got a patient going south on a case thats usually when the phone rings from someone on the floor with a moronic question for the surgeon and they usually have the cahoonas to say I wish to speak to the surgeon, which I say he / she is scrubbed in and this isnt a good time, which I get the reply well Im on the floor and Im an Rn and I have to get this taken care of... Which I reply well Im an RN as well , and I can tell you with all certainty that I will not disturb the Dr because he is currently doing a procedure that intails him/her not being disturbed.... (had a nurse go off on me because I wouldnt disturb the Dr while he was cracking a chest (pt crashed) and her patient wanted to be discharged.) Needless to say Im not on her christmas card list this year. I hate cell phones in the OR because then its just another disturbance in my room, but I deal with them, and I take messages just like I do the phone in the room. I know the cases I deal with and the surgeons I deal with and they know I know when and were they can be disturbed I will however take a call from the ER at anytime, My rooms are usually the cluster f**k rooms and cases they are bad when they come in , and mostlikely progress to worse, so tensions are always high, but I thrive on that, the Drs I work with also are the trauma and vascular, and cardiacs, so an ER call is usually my next patient with a rupturing AAA, so I keep up with that .

I have learned to superwoman type in the charting of my room there are times when I get on the computer the surgeon will make a comment about the clicking noise and I will stop listen and not hear it and then someone will say its zoe and shes going nuts on the computer, I have just about got charting down to less than 3 minutes if I can get on and off it without disturbance, I can tell you its hard because there are times when I have my charts reviewed they laugh because I have charted in my focus notes: patient confirmed surgery,surgeon,surgical site, and type of anesthesia, confirmed with surgeon, anesthesia, rn and surgical staff x2, zoe ,turn the coag to 60, and I need a warm LR.

yes that was found in a patients chart and I deleted it and the NM posted it , with a note that read Now this is power charting lol

Zoe

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Hey Zoe. we are kindred spirts. I loved your post. you just said it much better than I could. I am short and to the point.

Joy

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Specializes in O.R., ED, M/S.

Where I work, who ever is at the desk calls for the patient. We don't pre-op patients anymore so the only call to the floor is to see if they are ready for us to come and get them.

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Specializes in jack of all trades, master of none.

We call the charge at the frront desk, who takes care of the follow through to get the patient up to visit us.

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