You Are Not Alone

Specialties Radiology

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radnurse2001

98 Posts

Our "manager" is a rad tech too, well director of radiology. My problem is he's got no backround in nursing what-so-ever. When we try to bring patient issues to him he states he will get back to us, never does, we solve the problems on our own, in our own way, then he gets mad because we didn't consult with him. I am about ready to have him impeached. Good thing I wasn't camping with you, I go into anyphylatic shock from bee, hornet and wasp stings...believe me it isn't pretty. Hope you have(had) a nice day.

Anne

midnightkk

18 Posts

Ann,

oh, how I can relate. Our previous manager, was like that. We would tell him about our problems, and he did nothing. Our current manager is better, and listens to our suggestions of problem solving, but as well has no nursing background. We are able to work out problems together.

I am sure glad you were not camping with us.:o as that is what I feared was an anaphalactic (spelling) reaction.

Tomorrow, I begin to orientate one of our casual nurses to the angio suite. It is going to be a long haul, as she only works casual.

Have a good day!;)

AZRadRN

11 Posts

Hi to all my fellow radiology nurses!! I was so happy to find this site! Finally I can communicate with others that understand the unique and frustrating problems of radiology nursing!! We are truly in a class by ourselves, you know. I have been working rad for about 3 years now. As I read all these messages, I identified with each and every one of you. I recently moved across the country and went from working in a large (800+bed) county hospital to a small (97 bed) private hospital; totally different atmosphere but same old situation- I feel that radiology nurses are considered to be a "necessary evil" most of the time. At least at my former job I had a RN manager. I had to LOL when I read Rad2001's comment about his tech/manager. They really don't have a clue when it comes to nursing! Just a suggestion- contact the director of critical care nursing at your facility and present your concerns. I did this, and now I am reporting to her as my manager instead of a rad tech. BTW, I am the ONLY RN in the dept.- talk about being lonely! But I also see this as an opportunity, to develop the dept. in a nurse-friendly way. Thanks so much for presenting this forum!! :D :rolleyes:

midnightkk

18 Posts

Hi,

I am glad you found this site too...welcome. Yes we all have problems that are very similar. I have worked for 8 years in radiology. 6 years @ a major teaching hospital, now the past 2 years as Clinical Resource Nurse @ a community hospital. With a team of 3 RN's per shift. You must be lonely being the one and only.

Take Care::D

dstrick8

5 Posts

Since there has been so many replies to Radnurse by Rad nurses...i have a nonnursing question(sorry)...what do you think about Rad tech careers? Do most enjoy their job? What are their gripes?What are their perks? I thought that i would get a nonbiased opinion. I'm sure that you all work closely with them...you may not like them...ha! ha! i dunno. i am contemplating the career. i think there can be variety of opportunities in the field. Radiology is VERY interesting to me. i do appreciate your replies!!! Your input will help. i'm 29, going through a career change. i am a fish out of water in the medical field so i guess i do ask a bunch of questions. Thanx!!! Dee:D :D

radnurse2001

98 Posts

Welcome AZradRN and dstrick8. It is sooo great to have more and more nurses responding to this page!!!!!dstick8-all I can tell you is rad tech's generally like thier jobs, but you need to be a fast paced person. The rad techs I work with are always busy! This would definately be the time to become a rad tech--you can almost write your own ticket. AZRadRN ---I envy you. I wish I was the only nurse in my department I work so much better alone. See you guys later and let's keep the communication going!!!!! PS AZRadRN--Do you deal with the dreaded dialysis?

bearjack99

4 Posts

I can't believe that there is a radiology nurse category now - I have not visited this site for some time. This is wonderful!! Hello to BC from ONT! I can identify with soooo much of the stuff you are writing about!!

One question - Do you insert PICC lines?

Another question - Do nurses only scrub for procedures?

Do you wear OR greens? (Believe me - I need to know)

I am full time in IR and have 3 part time nurses working with me - we cover 24 hr call. We are busier than ever. Faster Faster!!!!

By the way - I went to San Antonio -wasn't it great!!!

TTFN

Elinore

radnurse2001

98 Posts

Hi there,

San Antonio was great!!!!!!We do insert Picc lines in our Special Procedures unit. Our Radiologist gains acess to the brachial or cephalic vein and thread them to the atrio-caval junction. This is only after opur Central line team tries and fails. Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a stat Picc line HAHAHAHA!Both nurses and rad techs scrub for procedures. we alternate. There are three of us, one circulates radiology (and related departments...ie CT and MRI) two are stationed in specials...(Concious Sedation issues) . We wear hospital issue scrubs, cover call(one RN, one tech). We are getting busier than ever too!!!! We just went full time trauma. Call used to be a peice of cake but now.....We have three full time RN's like I said and three full time techs. I am currently looking to hire another RN because it is soooo busy. Right now, we are the only hospital in a 90 mile radius that uses nembutal to sedate children, we cover the shriners kids, and our CT and MRI departments are rockin". But get this, as of Nov. 30th our radiologists group is disbanding. We are loosing our interventionalist,(which really makes dialysis happy...NOT!) our neurodiagnostic radiologist and our "body" guy. We won't have an interventionalist untill January, and we were lucky to get him. They are all leaving due to hospital politics.

I don't know what we are going to do. The CV surgeons do stuff and are willing to pick up more, but as we all know, dialysis can be a pain in the butt, and the surgeons won't put up with it, again us in the middle. Well, I am done griping ----

Anyother questions? Feel free to ask.

Anne

midnightkk

18 Posts

Hello Ontario!!!I am originally from Montreal, and have family in Toronto....Welcome to this thread. It is great to hear from so many of you. Did you get funding to go to San Antonio? Is there a web site that I could be on their mailing list for future conferences? Our pic line issue seems to be like in most places, we insert them if the pic line RN's are having trouble. We have 2 fulltime RN's and 2 parttime RN's. Only the RN's scrub, we do call but call is not very busy. I also work casual at a larger teaching hospital, and call was extremely busy....We do wear OR scrubs and nurses only scrub. We do angios and interventional cases, prepare pts. for CT, trouble shoot in the whole Diagnostic Imaging Dept. We will be getting an MRI in the new year.

:)

Peace

Kmrn65, RN

39 Posts

Could you tell me if you complete a nursing assessment of any kind pre-procedure for things like US guided breast biopsies?

Do you do the discharge instructions, or rad techs?

Thanks a bunch:)

snicuradrn

8 Posts

We have 2 full-time RN's in my dept and 2 part-time nurses, a 3rd nurse is starting in a week. Our dept has quadrupled the business in IR since bringing on an interventional radiologist. We do cover call but only til 7pm on the weekdays and only 8a-12p on weekends. The managers say we r changing call until 12 midnight during week. The nurses don't scrub on cases here, only the IR techs which is fine with me, I like monitoring the patients. I do love my job however find that our managers not having nursing backgrounds gives us the usual frustrations, we are the redheaded step-children of the hospital, lol. We frequently get left out of important changes in the hospital And find out with second hand conversations we other nurses. Since getting the IR doc we have gone to hospital provided OR scrubs! Thank heaven! With the changeover we now do dialysis related issues, angioplasties, etc. It has been frustrating with trying to explain to all that monitoring pt's can be different for each. They have done nothing to get us more education on these newer procedures, soon we our going to be doing RFA's and embolization, all of which uses heavy sedation, a side note to that, I was an ICU nurse for 14 years and have problem with using heavy sedation however there are limits to what I can do by hospital policy. Not sure about what we will do with this issue. Anyway sorry to run on with this. We do insert PICC lines but are developing a criteria patients must meet to have one placed, as always PICC's are not emergency cases however we seem to get called in for them all the time. We do a basic assessment with our thyroid and breast biopsies. We also do lumbar spine pain injections. I would be interested to know what sedation and pain meds other facilities use, does anyone use diprivan without an anesthesiologist. Do u have a protocol for it? What meds do you use for post biopsy patients, do they get sent home with a prescription. Thanks all! Any and all responses welcome.

lonelyradrn

1 Post

Ahh, someone I can identify with. I am the only radiology nurse in my 100 bed hospital also. I am married to a rad tech, my son is a rad tech, and his WIFE is a rad tech, so I felt I could bring a unique perspective to the job (left ER due to burnout.) My question to you (all of you, really), is do you feel a lack of respect from the "regular" nurses as to the challenges we face? It is impossible to get an SBAR from Med/Surg when they send their patients down, and they have placed me in some untenable situations. I think they feel, "Off the unit, not my problem," perspective. My manager is a Rad Tech, and supports me, but won't stand up to nursing management. Does a sentinel event need to occur before anyone will listen? Is this a universal problem, and how do you all handle this?

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