Slanted work duties

ortess1971 · Dec 4, 2006

I would like to hear from others on this. There are only 2 nurse's in our facility who have to first assist, scrub, circulate, give IV sedation and do the other job duties that OR nurse's do. I being one of them. My job is constantly changing throughout the day. Scrub one case go to another room to circulate then switch to First assist on the next case. We ( the other nurse) are getting burned out. Yet we get the same pay grade as everyone else. I think if we are going to be used in this manner we should get a higher wage. How do I approach management? I don't want to come across as "whiney". But I feel we should get compansated for the extras we have been doing for years.

Not to sound unsympathetic but most facilities are like that. Meaning that OR nurses scrub, circulate, play the part of anesthesia during conscious sedations, and whatever else is needed. What kind of facility do you work in? I do think that they could have other nurses multitask as well though. But, in any given day, I scrub and circulate and in one case I did both! Someone came in to relieve me for lunch, when I came back, they said the scrub hadn't gotten lunch so I scrubbed her out and someone took over the circulating. I actually like when I get to do different things..I get bored easily!

CuttingEdgeRN · Dec 4, 2006

Friday, I circulated total joints all day. Today, I was the pre-op holding nurse, starting IV's and all. Tomorrow, I am running the board. Some days I scrub in to give lunches to the tech or the asst. I am afraid this happens everywhere! I don't understand how just 2 of you do this?? Must be a very small OR suite.

Rezidentura · Dec 6, 2006

Ever wonder why some nurses/techs get away with not doing as much work as others. It's not because their lazy it's because their smarter than the rest of us. Seriously though, I work in a surgical center, and used to work in a Level one trauma. I've always been pushed for more responsiblity because A: I dont' freak out I can handle most any circumstance, B: I don't say no, or refuse C: I know how to play the polical game of getting along with most everyone (including the surgeons). The problem with this is, I do get more responsibility and I take more work than others. I"m afraid the only way to avoid this is to join the "I aint doing that" crew by being not so good and maybe saying no. Personally I like to excel at everything I do so I could never do this. I did downgrade to the surgicenter in order to be more sane at home at to get away from responsibility.

As for pay even though Nurses are supposedly hard to come by I have never had any success in getting raises based on merit only by working through the system. And although I've never threated to leave, from those that have the typical response is well I can't do anything for you and good luck with your other job.

Charity, RN, APRN · Dec 6, 2006

I would look at my official job description. Does it include these other duties, especially first assist (in my state this requires special training and means big bucks)? If it is a generic description, then I would work on a more appropriate one for you and your fellow additional duties nurse. If it DOES include said duties, then management best be getting busy training the others, shouldn't they!:chuckle

It will help if you have the support of someone "higher-up" in the organization. Is your nurse manager supportive? Or your unit educator? Talk to them about it. At the very least, I would talk to them about the inequity of work assignments. You are either functioning above par for this organization, or the others are not functioning up to par. While you don't want to look like a kindergartener going on about "she doesn't have to, why should I", fair is fair.