Old LPN.....NEW RN wanting to travel in OR

[Robert59]

Question.....

I'm a 35 yr LPN experienced in surgery. I am a new RN with a year and half experience in Endo.

My past 35 yrs has been in the OR. I traveled 5 yrs with AMN until the World Trade Center bombing took the wind out of the sails of the business. For scrubs anyway. I loved being my own boss.

I am ready to get back into the OR. I have done quite a bit of circulating in the Endo/Cysto department. I have a heavy background in Orthopedics.

To the experienced circulators out there. Will I have to do a lot of testing? I have a couple friends who travelled and made mention of some places requring testing.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Robert

[MereSanity]

What kind of testing? Most hospitals have a math test (mine was not hard) but I don't know about a traveler. Go back to the OR...we LOVE experienced nurses who can scrub!

"MereSanity" RN, BSN, CNOR

[NedRN]

Some hospitals use PBDS as a pass/fail for travelers. This is universally detested by travelers and agencies. It is a lot of work and money to set up an assignment, pay for housing and travel, and be sent home. For critical care nurses, some hospitals have a pass/fail rhythm test. But most of the tests given during orientation are pass/pass, you really can't fail. The tough test for most OR nurses is pharmacology. For some reason, I can pass those fairly readily, but nurses who administer meds have it easier. In any case, if you do badly, you can always do it again. Often the instructor leaves the room and it is a collaborative effort in a lot of orientations. Or the test is gone over by the instructor before you hand it back.

So really the only issue is the relatively rare hospitals that use PBDS as a pass/fail. A much bigger stressor will be learning where 10,000 different SKUs are in a week! Not to mention all the physician preferences even with good cards.