You might be an OR nurse if.......

[mcmike55]

I found this article recently in the July '05 edition of Outpatient Surgery Magazine...and wanted to pass it along for your enjoyment, and participation.

A big thanks to Paula Watkins RN,CNOR. Paula, forgive me I changed them a bit, and left a few out because my fingers were getting tired!

YOU MIGHT BE AN OR NURSE IF.......

You can look at a tissue speciment, and be planning what to have for supper that night.

You are sure the surgeon you worked with today uses his personality as birth control.

Your kitchen cabinet has more of those blue containers left over from sterile packs than regular dishes.

When you are showering or bathing, you start from the center, and wash out.

You'd rather sleep 15 more minutes than to put on makeup or fix your hair before going to work.

You write RN after you name when you sign things like your credit card, checks or that speeding ticket you got when you got called in.

You think the vending machine in the lounge should have Prozac right next to the Hershey bars.

You believe all patients should be put to sleep.....as soon as possible.

You think you still would like to marry a surgeon...unless you are old enough to know better.

You can look at a naked body, and REALLY think "parts is parts".

You look at an adult circumcision wrapped in coban, and think they look like a doberman's ears.

Sexual harassment. All these years, you thought bawdy anatomy jokes, and sexual innuendos were just normal OR conversation.

You really believe in "cut to cure".

You believe that the size of the pt is directly proportional to how long you have to hold retractors, and have the surgeon to repeatedly elbow you in the chest.

OSHA and the CDC could classify your OR shoes as a biohazard.

You can retrieve a pager or cell phone from a surgeon from under his gown, and not give a thought to where you're putting you hands (parts is parts, remember??!!)

You can tell how well a case is going by the number of 4 letter words are being uttered from the field. (I call them FPM'S...F**KS PER MINUTE)

You can trouble shoot any piece of equipment in surgery, but you blank when you get home.

You have been known to hide foodstuff, cough drops, etc in your mask for later use.

You think Betadine could be a tanning agent.

You answer the phone at home with your name and title.

You insist on caller ID on all your phones so you can see clearly who is calling you at 0630 on your day off! (Like you don't already know!!)

You get great satisfaction by handing the electrocautery pencil to the surgeon and say, pointing to the wound...here, bovie this!

Mike

[grimmy, RN]

:rotfl:

this is great! oh, and the shoes being biohazards, guilty as charged - that's why they stay at work!

one thing that could be added:

all the dropped items from the back table that are used at home - fr'instance: i painted my living room using backtable covers for drop cloths, and small plastic water basins as paint containers, raytecs for doing faux finishes (works great!) but don't try to launder them - they leave too many fuzzies in the dryer...oh, and dropped sterile gloves get used when i clean the cat box...

i love recycling!

[MissJoRN, RN]

i love recycling!

i get so many compliments on my pretty blue picnic table cloths :chuckle

oh, and i couldn't live without the blue (is there any other color) plastic lap chole tray under my dog's dishes. he's a very messy drinker! come to think of it, it might make a good coaster for my hubby!

ditto on the drop cloths! eye back covers never get contaminated so we grab them there.

[sunnyjohn]

This is great! Those lap sponges and blue towels are great when washing my car. I'll have to try the lap chole tray for my cat.

[mcmike55]

I know what you mean about recycling stuff. I don't know any OR nurses/techs that don't have a few surgical tapes laying around. I use them in the car, especially when the girls were little. We don't use pre done up trays, so I have to admit, I don't too much about the reused bowls or what you all are talking about with the lap chole trays.

However, I have used clean (unused!!) specimen containers for things....they are excellent for left overs when we have a carry in dinner in surgery.

And the drape sheets,,,excellent for many many uses!!

Mike

[grimmy, RN]

oh, when lunches come out in the break room, you should see all the recycled specimen cups come out of folks' lunch bags with salad dressing, grated cheese, etc. and i love the idea of those blue trays for under dog bowls - be great under a cat box, too! we do use merci for most of the unused "clean" items, but once in a while, a few get taken home.

http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/news/archives00/merci_project.cfm

love merci, too - a wonderful way to contribute to the community. we've sent literally tons of items to iraq, too.

[OnCall4Life]

Wow glad to see Im not the only one!! I too have the blue picnic table cloths and my cats and dogs eat out of the blue plastic bowls. We used the Lap chole trays for out kids to use as place mats when the want to watch a movie in the den and eat popcorn! My husband likes the Pulse-a-vac's (the clean ones that either get dropped or contaminated on opening) to clean the screens on the windows or his lawn mowers off. What we do with left over drapes or clean supplies is give them to the local animal shelter. The wrappers off the trays are used as liners for cages and so on. Plus we save on the cost of disposal by doing that!!!

[shaylin]

Hi, I plan on starting my Surgical Tech clinicals in October and I was needing to know if Surgical Tech students get paid for clinicals.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Thank you for the link to MERCI, I will forward it to our OR supervisor.

[suzanne4, RN]

Hi, I plan on starting my Surgical Tech clinicals in October and I was needing to know if Surgical Tech students get paid for clinicals.

As I have already answered you, NO. You will still be a student, same as student nurses do not get paid for clinicals, resp therapy students to not get paid. You are actually paying to be able to do your clinicals. Your instructor needs to get paid.

[suzanne4, RN]

I remember one of my dogs that would only eat food from a blue raytec container, he thought that it was a treat then, when we were away from home.

And the little purple hearts from the heart set-ups?? Little girls just love them as well.

[surginurse]

I found this article recently in the July '05 edition of Outpatient Surgery Magazine...and wanted to pass it along for your enjoyment, and participation.

A big thanks to Paula Watkins RN,CNOR. Paula, forgive me I changed them a bit, and left a few out because my fingers were getting tired!

YOU MIGHT BE AN OR NURSE IF.......

You can look at a tissue speciment, and be planning what to have for supper that night.

You are sure the surgeon you worked with today uses his personality as birth control.

Your kitchen cabinet has more of those blue containers left over from sterile packs than regular dishes.

When you are showering or bathing, you start from the center, and wash out.

You'd rather sleep 15 more minutes than to put on makeup or fix your hair before going to work.

You write RN after you name when you sign things like your credit card, checks or that speeding ticket you got when you got called in.

You think the vending machine in the lounge should have Prozac right next to the Hershey bars.

You believe all patients should be put to sleep.....as soon as possible.

You think you still would like to marry a surgeon...unless you are old enough to know better.

You can look at a naked body, and REALLY think "parts is parts".

You look at an adult circumcision wrapped in coban, and think they look like a doberman's ears.

Sexual harassment. All these years, you thought bawdy anatomy jokes, and sexual innuendos were just normal OR conversation.

You really believe in "cut to cure".

You believe that the size of the pt is directly proportional to how long you have to hold retractors, and have the surgeon to repeatedly elbow you in the chest.

OSHA and the CDC could classify your OR shoes as a biohazard.

You can retrieve a pager or cell phone from a surgeon from under his gown, and not give a thought to where you're putting you hands (parts is parts, remember??!!)

You can tell how well a case is going by the number of 4 letter words are being uttered from the field. (I call them FPM'S...F**KS PER MINUTE)

You can trouble shoot any piece of equipment in surgery, but you blank when you get home.

You have been known to hide foodstuff, cough drops, etc in your mask for later use.

You think Betadine could be a tanning agent.

You answer the phone at home with your name and title.

You insist on caller ID on all your phones so you can see clearly who is calling you at 0630 on your day off! (Like you don't already know!!)

You get great satisfaction by handing the electrocautery pencil to the surgeon and say, pointing to the wound...here, bovie this!

Mike

These are so true! Don't forget to use those larger blue bowls to take salads for picnics, or pot-lucks........you don't have to worry about getting them back!!