New RN to ortho

That's pretty good advice.

At our facility we have one of those huge rolling ice chests on wheels and I'll go fill it with ice down in the morgue when my shift starts. 3-4 hours into the shift I will take the ice chest around to each room and refill the EBI coolers. I've found that if you completely empty all of the ice and all of the water and fill it back up that it can go up to four hours without melting, whereas if you just add more ice to the water like I see a lot of people do then you will be refilling about every 2 hours.

this is all great advice.

I did not post the orginial posting.... but reading it, I feel exactly the same, as if I wrote it.

I am starting to work in 2 weeks and I am nervous but excited to be back in the working field as a new RN. I used to be a CNA at the hospital where I am gonna work at, but I hardly ever went to work at that floor. Last time I worked there it was before nursing school and I was paired up with a nurse who died (true story) a few years back.

so basically, pain management and circulation distal to the surgery site, prevent DVT's......... anything else??

Hi Iampatty... how have you been doing in Ortho, do you like it there? I am considering doing Ortho and as you would like any info of what to know. I did ortho years ago and honestly have gone blank. So much has happen that I can't remember much. I didn't stay long but want to start fresh. Any advice would be appreciated

First of all Kyle, I would have to say take a deep breath and RELAX. You hopefully will be getting about what 12 weeks of orientation? My first point of advice would be to buy yourself a small notepad to keep in your pocket. You will need to know what doc to call/their pager/and when you can call them/ do they use residents, that type of thing. I always encourage new nurses to keep this little notepad. To try and "remember" everything is insane!! Our new nurses get 12 weeks of orientation. During that orientation, they are with their preceptor most of the time. They do go with PT/OT, speech therapy, they spend time with the unit secretaries, the charge nurse, the neurology doctors, and remember, you should never fell alone. There is always someone there to help. I always encourage all our new nurses to ASK their questions no matter how stupid they THINK they may seem. I have been doing ortho/neuro for most of my 19 years of nursing, and there are still things I learn. You will never know EVERYTHING!! Rely on your charge nurses, your nurse managers, and all of your experienced colleagues. I am the permanent day shift charge nurse on my 55 bed ortho/neuro/trauma/plastics floor. I wish you the best of luck. If there is anything specific that ever arises, feel free to ask, I will do my best to answer. Keep your head up, it is hard work!! OH BUT SO REWARDING!!!!!!

Hip prothesis..always pillow beetwen legs
cast...verify circulatory refill, pedial pulse...big danger... seen a leg amputation after to tight cast and poor monitorisaition
Anticoagulation...coumadin (verify INR!!!!!), all others OK (verify duration)
DVT... signs and symptoms....better preventive...
A simple starting coughing form nowere could be a pumonary embolus also......asses then!
A lot, a lot.... is beautiful Ortho is beuatiful! Enjoy it!