Becoming an Endoscopy Nurse

ZZTopRN, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2005

I am in my RN refresher theory right now, but will be going into clinicals next month. My instructor has prepared me to take some of my clinicals in endoscopy as that is what I thought I might be interested in. I have not remembered to ask my instructor if you have to be ACLS certified. I guess I was thinking that she would have asked me that if I was planning to work in endoscopy. So I guess my answer would be, "ask her." Anyway, we are told that a lot of nurses are hired right out of their clinicals.

So far there has been only one post on this subject which brought up a very good point about dealing with emergencies. (I work adult medicine). I sure would appreciate any endo nurse sharing more of their experiences.

Thank you all.

Darlene K. · Sep 25, 2005

I have been a circulator in the OR for the past 4 years and I am interested in trying something new. Lately, working in endoscopy has been on my mind. Can any Endo RNs out there answer some questions for me?
What is a typical day like? Are the procedures all scheduled or are there any emergencies? Are IV starting skills necessary? (In my OR, the CRNA always starts the IV). I know all hospitals are different, but does endo usually require being on call? Working weekends? Holidays? Would my experience in surgery help me in endo?
I appreciate any response. Thank you!

At our hospital, the nurses start the IV's. They do require ACLS and PALS certification. Emergencies do happen. Outpatients don't always fess up that they ate an hour before coming in and aspirations can happen.

Procedures are both scheduled and done as emergency add ons. Most procedures are done in the GI lab, however some patients are too critical to move so they are done at the bedside.

The GI lab is closed on holidays and weekends, but there is a nurse on call after hours and weekends for inpatient emergencies or ER. We do our own recovery room for the adults and send the pedi pts to PACU for recovery.

girlsptz · Sep 27, 2005

Hi there...I'm just now seeing your post. I'll try to be of some assistance. I've been an Endoscopy nurse for the past 9 years but have been nursing for 21 years. A typical day for me starts at 7:45 am and our first order of business is to prepare all the IV solutions that we know we will need for our scheduled outpatient tests. Our unit does Gastroscopy, Colonoscopy and Bronchoscopy. We generally have about 55-60 Outpatient procedures booked each day. Then each nurse prepares her drugs....in our unit the nurses are certified to give all the medications and the doctors are not involved with this.

In our unit IV starting skills are essential as we prep all our patients. On a typical day each nurse would have to start about 20. We are of course all BLS certified and many of us are ACLS certified myself included. We are responsible as well for the emergency upper and lower GI bleeds, foreign bodies, etc that arrive in the emergency department and have to be able to accomodate those as required.

Yes I would say in most Endoscopy units you will be expected to assume oncall duties. We have a staff of 9 nurses and we do call 1 week (24 -7) every 9 weeks. Our call starts at 4pm on Friday and goes until 7 am the following Friday. It can make for a very busy week as we often are called back...most definitely several times on the weekend and often evenings and nights during the week as well. We are still responsible for our regular day shifts as well.....so even if you were in at 3am you would still be expected to be back for your 7:45 shift. We don't have enough staff to be replaced. If you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask.

Sandra

janebowman · Jan 22, 2010

hello everyone...

I worked as an ER nurse for 3 years. Can anybody tell me if a nurse like me, without experience in Endoscopy dept needs to have special training or program before i can be hire as an Endoscopy nurse?

CFitzRN, ADN · Feb 24, 2010

hello everyone...
I worked as an ER nurse for 3 years. Can anybody tell me if a nurse like me, without experience in Endoscopy dept needs to have special training or program before i can be hire as an Endoscopy nurse?

I really don't think so. With 3 years of ER nursing, I think you'd be "an easy teach". My recommendation would be to work for an independent GI practice. M-F, no weekends or holidays, low-acuity patients, good pay, pretty stress-free environment, few complications. And you'd be ready if there were any complications with your emergency nursing experience. I would recommend going for it.