Private Outpatient Surgery Center

suzanne4, RN · Oct 27, 2005

It all depends on where you live, can vary widely.............you need to be more specific, as well as what experience do you have?

Do you have ACLS? Do you already have OR experience, or will they need to train you? Are you going to first assist, or scrub, as well?

This also influences the rate. You need to be much more specific. With the information that you gave, it is impossible to even give you a ballpark figure, it can vary about $20 per hour by what you listed above, if you have all of the skills already.

bjm · Oct 29, 2005

OK. I have 3 years med/surg background in the hospital. As a new outpatient surgical nurse, the responsibilities are for pre-op, which I can do, I will be crosstrained as circulating nurse and for post op. So, yes, there is some training to take place. My area is south texas if this helps. Appreciate any input you might have regarding expected salary range.

dphrn · Oct 29, 2005

I just moved to San Antonio and accepted a position at an out patient surgery center 6 weeks ago. I have oncology and telemetry experience, no surgery experience. I am now in pre op and will soon train for pacu. I will not be trained to be in the OR, which is fine with me. I am receiving $28.00 an hour.

There are so many private surgery centers popping up now. The pay will vary from company to company. Good luck.

bjm · Oct 29, 2005

I am curious as to how many years experience you have in nursing...I have 3 years experience,and with their offer at 21.00, I am hoping that you are a more seasoned nurse and that your part of Texas is paying you 28.00 to compensate you for that. I hope you don't mind the personal questions, but it helps me to ascertain if I'm being taken advantage of, or, adequately compensated for my level of experience. Thanks

dphrn · Oct 29, 2005

I have been a nurse for seven years. My experience is 2 years med/surg, 3 years telemetry, 2 years oncology. I had no pre op or pacu experience when I interviewed for this position. I knew I didn't want to go back to the floor, and when I saw this position advertised, I was very interested.

I work part time, usually three days a week. No evenings, weekends, or holidays. So far I am loving it! Once again, these private surgery centers are becoming very popular. The pay will vary just as a doctor's office pay will vary. They can adjust their pay scale as they wish, if they are private and not affiliated with a hospital. What they quoted you may be their pay scale. But, there is nothing written in stone that you can not ask for a dollar or two more. If you do, be prepared to explain why you think you deserve that pay rate. Why they will benefit from having you join their staff.

I think you should weigh all the pros and cons that are important for you. Ask if your pay will increase after you are trained in the OR. How often do they have evals and raises? Is the insurance plan and 401K an important factor for you? Does not working holidays and weekends excite you?! I take it you have been to the facility. Did you like what you saw? Take all these things into consideration when you make your decision on the position and the pay they are offering you.

bjm · Oct 29, 2005

thank you for your response. May I also ask what type of outpt surgery yours is? I plan to talk to them on start day about the possibility of a pay incentive once I become trained in the OR. I think that what be a fair question. Yes the hours do excite me, I do like the benefits package. I see that you are online so, I'm going to take a moment to see if you are in the chat room. Thanks for all your help.

dphrn · Oct 29, 2005

I work at a privately owned outpatient ambulatory surgery center. We have five operating rooms, pacu and pre-op. It sounds a lot like the one you are considering. They do any type of surgery that the patient can go home the same day. It would take me too long to list all the different types of surgery they do. It is amazing the things they do now a days and send the patient home after one hour of recovery.

I don't go into the chat rooms. Let me know what you decide. :)

zambezi, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2005

I work on call in an outpatient surgery center- pacu only (but I have been crosstrained for some pre op).

We get about 29.50/hr. I don't know what regular employees get paid.

I have 3 year critical care experience.

Still need PALS.

bjm · Oct 30, 2005

Dear dphrn, I want to thank you for all of your responses,they have been very honest and helpful. You asked to me let you know my decision. Here it is. I am accepting the position. I do, plan to ask if there will be an opportunity to renegotiate my wage once I am trained in all three areas - after much consideration, I believe this to be a fair question. Still, I believe that this is a wonderful opportunity for me to learn a new area of nursing, work on these new skills, and if nothing else, make me more marketable down the road should I decide at some point to leave this employer. Honestly, though, I'm really hoping that this is something I am going to love. I hope that working with a smaller group of nurses (that don't have to answer to hospital politics) that the work environment will be more conducive to learning, and who knows, maybe even be something enjoyable to look forward to on a day to day basis. Still, on a personal note, I see only positives at this point. I love the benefits package, I love the hours, and I love that it will bring me more professional opportunities to place in my own personal library. Again, thank you for taking the time to visit with me on this subject.

dphrn · Oct 31, 2005

Thanks for letting me know what you decided bjm. I have a feeling you made the right choice for yourself. Part of the reason I took my position was also to learn something new in the nursing field. The worst that can happen is that you do not like it. There are so many opportunities for us nurses that you can move on to something else if need be.

I have been at my new job for six weeks now, and I am very happy with my decision to take this position. I actually look forward to going to work for the first time in a long while! It is interesting work and I enjoy the smaller group I work with now.

It has been very nice talking with you, and I hope you are very happy at your new nursing job. I think your gut is telling you that you made the right choice!! When do you start? Let me know how it goes after you have been there a little while. Congratulations. :)

bjm · Oct 31, 2005

Hi dphrn. I start Nov 8th, a start date we agreed upon so that I would not have to reschedule doctors appts I had prior to accepting the position. I would love to keep you posted of how it goes. In the meantime, I would like to ask you 2 questions based upon the info you told me. You said that you do the pre-op and post-op but not the circulating. I won't ask about circulating. Can you tell me what you are repsonsible for in the preop and post op areas? I would appreciate any info you could send my way. I would greatly it and it would help me to prepare mentally during the next week prior to starting. Thanks.