perioperative nurses, do you like your job? (vent)

orrnlori, RN · Mar 21, 2004

You do become immune to them. :chuckle Funny thing is that usually after then make a total ass out of the themselves and they scrub out, they usually apologize for being a jerk. Yeah, yeah, yeah, heard it all before, whatever. I asked one the other day if he needed some talcum powder for his diaper rash. He just looked at me and smiled. Now that our new outpatient facility is opened I no longer have to deal with the bugger-pickers that for some reason think they are neurosurgeons. I hate ENT doctors. Give me a good old general surgeon any day. At least they are grown ups. :)

MsHB · Apr 4, 2004

Of course I love my job, and I wouldn't be without it. The beauty of nursing is that there is a place for everyone, you just have to find it first. I started out in med/surg, decided that it wasn't for me, and tried OR. It was the best decision for me. It's about what makes you happy, and if working in your area makes you happy that's great, because we need nurses who want to work (and stay) in all areas of nursing.:)

PACU R/N · Apr 6, 2004

Yes some ward nurses do forget how critical the nursing gets in here. In the OR that I work in, we are rostered to be anaesthetist assistant on some days. I prefer pacu. When doing call, we are expected to be anaesthetic nurse and also circulating nurse, and recover the patient as well! I get the feeling they (management) will try to get us to scrub as well. Multi-skilling? I've been back in the OR for a year now, after 13yrs night duty in a medical ward.

I volunteered to go up to one of the med/surg units today just to help them out. One of the nurses there that I have know for a long time asked me, "Do you like your job?" I told her yes, I love my job." (pacu) Then she said "Aren't you bored?" I'm thinking , what are you talking about! :angryfire I take care of 15 -20 fresh post-op pt's a day. Give approx. 100 or more pain, nausea, bp meds a day, take approx 60 sets of vs, comfort and reorient pts that are waking up and have no idea where they are and what has happened. We take care of newborns -100yr olds. In addition we pull arterial sheaths on all our cath lab pts and call pts for pre=op interviews. When do I have time to be bored? What do people think we do all day? I really want to know what the general nursing population thinks we do. Do they really think we just sit and write down vital signs? All med/surg nurses feel free to respond. I know what you do. I did it for several years. It is a very hard job. Please have respect for what I do. Pacu is a critical care area. Sorry for the rant... This person hit a nerve, and she is a friend of mine. :angryfire

MsHB · Apr 6, 2004

I guess being in OR means you have to do a bit of everything. I srub/circulate (which is what I love and choose do to), however I also get sent to PACU and Endoscopy, to the wards now and again, and they even tried to send me to ICU the other day!! (I refused of course, seeing as I have never had any ICU training!)

Speaking of the wards, last time I went there, I expressed concern about giving out meds (haven't worked there in years), the ward nurse made a face and said "you are an RN aren't you?, why can't you give out the meds?", I didn't bother replying, but thought "well, you are an RN, let's see you come down and scrub for a bowel resection or AAA"

Yes some ward nurses do forget how critical the nursing gets in here. In the OR that I work in, we are rostered to be anaesthetist assistant on some days. I prefer pacu. When doing call, we are expected to be anaesthetic nurse and also circulating nurse, and recover the patient as well! I get the feeling they (management) will try to get us to scrub as well. Multi-skilling? I've been back in the OR for a year now, after 13yrs night duty in a medical ward.

fergus51 · Apr 6, 2004

Did you ask what she meant by bored? It's very subjective. I think I would be bored cause I don't like sick adults (ICK!), not because I think PACU is easy.