ENT clinic work

Trauma Columnist · Jul 16, 2015

Hi and welcome. I moved to Clinic nursing.

T-Bird78 · Jul 17, 2015

Depends on the specific doc. My first ENT had a nurse in the room with him, handing instruments, writing scripts (he'd check it and sign it after he dictated it), rooming pts, vitals, phone triage, preop consents, cleaning/stocking rooms, cleaning/sterilizing instruments and scopes, allergy skin testing and injections, assisting with minor in-office surgical procedures (from Botox to ear tubes to torn ear lobe repair). Current ENT only has us room pts and preop consent information, plus cleaning/sterilizing instruments and scopes. I enjoyed the first one more because it was much more hands-on, but the current one is good too. Never a dull moment!

limit68 · Jul 17, 2015

Depends on the specific doc. My first ENT had a nurse in the room with him, handing instruments, writing scripts (he'd check it and sign it after he dictated it), rooming pts, vitals, phone triage, preop consents, cleaning/stocking rooms, cleaning/sterilizing instruments and scopes, allergy skin testing and injections, assisting with minor in-office surgical procedures (from Botox to ear tubes to torn ear lobe repair). Current ENT only has us room pts and preop consent information, plus cleaning/sterilizing instruments and scopes. I enjoyed the first one more because it was much more hands-on, but the current one is good too. Never a dull moment!

Thx! But normally what kind of ENT diseases need different equipment?

T-Bird78 · Jul 21, 2015

Most routine visits will use an ear speculum and otoscope, tongue blade, and nasal speculum; the nasal spec is to be cleaned and sterilized in the autoclave. If it's impacted ear wax, the doc will use suction tips of varying sizes to suck the wax out or metal ear curettes and right angle tools and "aligators" to grab and remove the wax; all those have to be cleaned and autoclaved. There's suture removal kits for postop sinus surgeries which will be cleaned, packaged, and autoclaved, there's scissors of differing sizes that need the same procedure (salivary stone removal, uvula removal); salivary duct dilators; bayonettes to remove foreign bodies (and that's always fun--people get some strange stuff in strange places!) all to be cleaned and autoclaved. For sinus or throat issues, a nasal endoscope is ordered. The doc (or sometimes you) will spray a numbing solution of Afrin and lidocaine into the nostrils and the doc will introduce the scope into the nose for an up close and personal look; if it's throat it'll go up and turn down to visualize the vocal cords. That scope has a whole different cleaning/sterilizing process with cidex or resert. There's also disposable cautery sticks for getting bleeders under control, and pts look at you funny when you get the KY jelly (to help insert nasal packing for nosebleeds).

limit68 · Jul 21, 2015

most routine visits will use an ear speculum and otoscope, tongue blade, and nasal speculum; the nasal spec is to be cleaned and sterilized in the autoclave. If it's impacted ear wax, the doc will use suction tips of varying sizes to suck the wax out or metal ear curettes and right angle tools and "aligators" to grab and remove the wax; all those have to be cleaned and autoclaved. There's suture removal kits for postop sinus surgeries which will be cleaned, packaged, and autoclaved, there's scissors of differing sizes that need the same procedure (salivary stone removal, uvula removal); salivary duct dilators; bayonettes to remove foreign bodies (and that's always fun--people get some strange stuff in strange places!) all to be cleaned and autoclaved. For sinus or throat issues, a nasal endoscope is ordered. The doc (or sometimes you) will spray a numbing solution of afrin and lidocaine into the nostrils and the doc will introduce the scope into the nose for an up close and personal look; if it's throat it'll go up and turn down to visualize the vocal cords. That scope has a whole different cleaning/sterilizing process with cidex or resert. There's also disposable cautery sticks for getting bleeders under control, and pts look at you funny when you get the ky jelly (to help insert nasal packing for nosebleeds).

thank you soooooo much!

limit68 · Jul 21, 2015

Sorry, I have another question, does Pt do any blood test before go through scope? Like HIV or HBV?

pfchang · Jul 22, 2015

It seems like you are asking for this info for homework or classes, etc. If not, sorry. It just seems that way from how your posts are worded.

T-Bird78 · Jul 22, 2015

No. Universal precautions for everyone. If it's a known HIV or Hep pt there is a thin sheath that can be placed on the scope but they don't always tell you in the medical hx. The cleaning and disinfecting process for the scopees is pretty intense and effective.