operating room versus ER

[johnnyDoGood]

can someone tell me the big difference from being a nurse in OR versue ER? when you work in OR what are the duties like? do you hand the surgeon supplies, do you assist in the surgery or do you just do post op on the patient? in the ER what is that like? when patients come in, does everyone have an assigned duty that they do all the time, like maybe one nurse just does the iv whilst another nurse does something else or do you just run around and do whatever needs to be done randomly? how does it work.

[janette87]

at my hospital the OR had 2 nurses, scrub and circulating. scrub nurse would be with the surgeon handing him supplies/taking things away. circulating nurse would be out of the field, getting supplies to pass over to the scrub nurse and doing the charting on the computer. Usually they would switch each surgery ie: I was scrubbed in last time so I will circulate for this one. Almost always from what I've seen the patient would already have an IV line, either had one put in on the day surgery floor or if they came from the ER they would do it there. if there was no IV line the anaesthesiologist would do it.

in my ER the nurses are assigned to a set of beds and look after only those patients. beds 1-5 were cardiac/trauma, beds 6-10 abd/gyne, etc. You do everything for your patients - assessments, IVs, meds.. We also have a float nurse who covers for people when they go on breaks. If there is no one on a break she will come help out where she can, maybe put in the odd IV, Ng tube whatever.

personally i find ER much more enjoyable. I like the variety. I hated OR and having to be in the same room pretty much all shift. at least with ER it can be more hectic but Im on the go all day and dont feel so confined. and I enjoy the interaction with the patients that you dont get in the OR

[johnnyDoGood]

at my hospital the OR had 2 nurses, scrub and circulating. scrub nurse would be with the surgeon handing him supplies/taking things away. circulating nurse would be out of the field, getting supplies to pass over to the scrub nurse and doing the charting on the computer. Usually they would switch each surgery ie: I was scrubbed in last time so I will circulate for this one. Almost always from what I've seen the patient would already have an IV line, either had one put in on the day surgery floor or if they came from the ER they would do it there. if there was no IV line the anaesthesiologist would do it.

in my ER the nurses are assigned to a set of beds and look after only those patients. beds 1-5 were cardiac/trauma, beds 6-10 abd/gyne, etc. You do everything for your patients - assessments, IVs, meds.. We also have a float nurse who covers for people when they go on breaks. If there is no one on a break she will come help out where she can, maybe put in the odd IV, Ng tube whatever.

personally i find ER much more enjoyable. I like the variety. I hated OR and having to be in the same room pretty much all shift. at least with ER it can be more hectic but Im on the go all day and dont feel so confined. and I enjoy the interaction with the patients that you dont get in the OR

so what does the or tech do then if the scrub nurse is doing that job? thanks for explaining to me how it works. is it harder to get a job in ER?

[CuriousMe]

so what does the or tech do then if the scrub nurse is doing that job? thanks for explaining to me how it works. is it harder to get a job in ER?

I have friends who are surg techs. From what they say, there's either a scrub nurse or a surg tech...not both.

[Argo]

it varies from hospital to hospital. the majority in san antonio employee scrub techs, 2 per case on average and circulating nurses, 1 per case. one nurse will do anywhere from 1-10 cases in a day depending on the service. we start plenty of IVs, unfortunately they are usually the hard to stick people. Anesthesia does not like to have to start the IV on any regular basis unless your hospital has a staff anesthesia team. You will get to try ER and Or on your clinicals in school, just see which one is better for you.