BernadetteRNBSN

browsing around for a nursing site that could help me professionally, and i found allnurses.

I love baltimore. It is definitely a big city with big city attitude. i just moved from there to delaware:scrying:. I went to Nsg school at University of Maryland, Baltimore. Baltimore is a tough city, but a fun city. I loved living there. However the area around hopkins(hospital) is a little scarey. I know they are currently trying to clean it up, but there's a lot to do. You can't imagine that a place so prestigious is surrounded by slums and crime. Anyway just call and ask some of your friends that live in big cities what they do differently as opposed to living in oregon. More or less you just have to take on a more guarded appearance/approach. Bad people in baltimore are drawn/attracted to the meek and weak. So always look strong and confident. Some areas that are cool to reside are mount vernon, the area around hopkins undergrad campus (charles village), canton, and federal hill. These are among some of the safer places. Don't let Baltimore scare you. Once you get comfortable and confident you will love it. There is tons to do. b- ps Nsg school sucks. But sort of worth it. Good luck.

hey corvette guy, i'm thinking more like an orthopedic saw blade (something stryker anyway......). Anywho like I mentioned before,"touchy subject". But a good thread. I have learned a lot. And thanks to all for your true opinions. All feedback (good or bad) contributes to the success of good teamwork:). b-

you can ask for the job description of any job. You don't have to be a supervisor to get a copy. So if your ever of unsure of someone's scope of practice just ask for a copy of that specific job/ not person:rolleyes: .

Give him a copy of his job discription. And high light his duties. some one gave me similiar advice and it worked. b-

Betadine is the worst for skin prep. But we use it all the time. If you read the bottle it tells you that betadine will break down roughly at about body temperature (36.4 degrees) When i was in nursing school i took 5 different kinds of scrub soaps to microbiology class. I put each one on a petri dish and swabbed lots of bacteria. Chlorahexidine(hibacleanse) did the best and betadine did the absolute worst. The petri dish overflowed with colonies. YUK:uhoh3: . And even worst, many moons (years) ago we used to put betadine in the warmer for comfort measures. I guess that was like painting on water. who knows.......... anyway i like to use duraprep(has alcohol) or chlorohexidine. But those are not the prep of choice usually.

I think calling MDs by their first names is pretty touchy. I have seen many nurses do it. And unfortunately have seen nurses get in deep trouble (e.g.,corrected, chewed-up) for it. Most MDs are just too bipolar, and i don't want to take any chances. So when i am at work absolutely "NONE" of those MDs are my friends. So I only address them professionally. I may sometimes joke, but i am very aware of the tempo of the conversation due to sudden shifts in personality, i do believe they call that personality disorder or lack of social skils. Anyway I have worked with many MDs that i have adored and thought were extremely talented, however in a situation (throwing fits/tantrums) their "WORD" has more validity to the higher ups. First name basis, NO WAY MAN. I'm super cool with calling them "DOCTOR".

Hey guys and gals, just wanted to get some insight/opinions to the posting and i thank you all for doing just that. I know this is a touchy subject if you are not a nurse. However many of us do scrub and first assist and very much understand the role of the scrub nurse/tech. But when there is some thing to loose like ones license, i guess we nurses become a little guarded. b- ps A nursing license can be had by all if you choose to seek it. :)

I used to first assist when i was a surgical tech. However when i did i was hired by the hospital as a first assist and surgical tech. I had two job discriptions. (I was trained in the military. And after the military i was hired by a private practice as a surgical assistant.) however when i was assisting i had to bill for myself. The hospital did not pay me for it. So if you are first assisting and it is not in your job discription, YOU SHOULD NOT BE DOING IT. can you say Liability........anyone???

Hey Corvette guy, Thank you so much. I could not have said it any better. However somedays i would rather be scrubbed. :uhoh3: . Anywho we'll see if she's singing that same song when she's circulating on her own. Have a nice day, b-

sunny john, i hate to say it but as much as you don't want it to happen, uh......:uhoh21: some (most) surg tech will treat you diffferently once you become a nurse. I have been very disappointed by the way i had been treated, especially since i was a surgical tech for 15 long years. I don't understand it. I am still a human being. But i am a nurse who is legally responsible for my team. I am not the devil. I considered myself a team player. Anyway i want you to email me when you are off on your own running rooms for about a good six months I am curious. At times it's awesome, and other times i want to :angryfire fuss every one out in the room. Man this is exhausting:o :o

No way man. Mt. Washington is understaffed and gives average/fair care. however if you are interested in working there and you want to be a peds nurse why not, they could probably use all the help they can get especially if you have an interest. B- PS how do i know about the Mount?? My niece was there for two months. I spent a lot of time visiting and observing.

if you are not a nurse than you truly do not understand. (a licensed practicing nurse) becoming a nurse is a journey that is never forgotten. maintaining your license is a continuous journey. if you are a nurse than you want to be treated like you have some ounce of knowledge. respect is secondary to acknowledging professionalislm. (a college education {that cost a small house}=knowledge). if you are not a nurse, you can make suggestions but you can most certainly not tell a nurse "what she/he needs to do"! that is my point.

Union Memorial hospital is an awesome place to work. check it out.

hello, i am a graduate of UMB (university of maryland at baltimore) not UMBC. Anyway I absolutely loved going to nursing school there. If you can hold out and try to get into UMB. It is well worth it. Well maybe not the research class, but everything else is great. UMB made me very proud to be a nurse today. any questions about the program, email me. b-

well today was very interesting. I had a talk with a scrub tech and a mediator to discuss how she is inapproprite often times before, during, and after a case. She is so bold and brazen to tell the surgeons, residents, and nurses what to do or "what you need to do". I just wanted to let her know that that is out of her scope of practice. and her scope of practice is what ever her job discription says (thanks Carcha) Well she informed me that she is 36 and can say what she wants if she wants to voice her opinion and if i did not have specific details of an events "this meeting is over!!" can you say insubordinate......... see because they have us as equals there is no respect. I think people are afraid of her. I am not. I feel so disrespected. i just don't want tension in my room when she is my tech. I believe there is no changing her and i am simply going to write her @$#@$ up each and everytime she is inappropriate. She really is ruining my many years of anger management. I hate to go to that dark place, but i just might............... PS thanks for the advice on the job discription. i ran and got mine right away and read it from front to back!!!

how about a research project on patient recovery from ceramic hips vs titanium hips/stainless steel and compare recovery(lenght of time before ambulation) to the type of hip replacements used 10 years ago. and you could tie in how long it took to get completely back to their ADLs. or you could compare pt education before surgery (pt education about hip replacement, ie, details of surgery, type of pain;pain score, diet, ROM, ambulation, assistive devices, etc.) and if it helped improve with (pt. knowledge) recovery after surgery. or compare infection rates in pts who had anitbiotics in the irrigation used in their surgery vs patients who did not have antibiotics in the irrigation.

she was awesome. however one day when we all got to work we found out that she had quit effective immediately. and was replace by a woman who is very nice but really doesn't have any intentions on staying in the management position.

i am a fast pace person in general, but when it comes down to doing what i need to do to protect my license I take the time to check it all out. and so what if we add a few minutes to our turn over time, shoot! the viralcide used to clean the rooms needs 15 minutes any way to be effective. and for @%$& and giggles i sometimes have the surgeons help turn over the room while i'm checking over my mound of paper work. in all said, take the time to protect yourself.

try and get some (many) shadow/share days before you start your program. It's good to hang out with nurses who are in your field of interest.

Thanks guys for all your thoughts. i think i may send the acting manager an email about how i(we) am feeling. I will make sure i'm to the point.

I have always worn a white tee shirt in the OR. At my current hospital it has been questioned. I wear them because first i am always sooooo cold and secondly i don't want to give a show when i bend down to get stuff. I am more comfortable when i have my tee shirt on. However I want to be within the standard. so any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. thanks, b

I am an operating room nurse at a rather large hospital. This facility has made it so that the Surgical techs and the RNs are pretty much equal. Therefore i am often talked to with disrespect and sarcasm, as well as constant undermining. I am feeling like i wasted my time going thru four years of college to have my RN be disregarded. I was a surgical tech for 15years and i never behaved that way. My alligence was always to my nurse. And when things went wrong i knew we had each others back. I don't want to boss people around but i do think that a lot of the decisions in my room should be left up to me since i have a license on the line. however i am very open to ideas from my scrub person. I just don't like being told what "I need to do!" I feel i have earned the right to make decisions, but if i am seen as equal to my surgical tech then why did i bother being a nurse............. I am trying to be a team player but it just seems kind of weird to me that the roles have been sort of reversed.