TracyB,RN

I was wondering if you worked at my old job.. Almost identical scenario... Then I saw in a post about NC... I'm in IL. Where I used to work, it seems as if the nurse manager is encouraged by HR & the higher powers that be, to continue this behavior.. No one had the patience to continue to deal with it...

For those in hearts, who had to make a choice between hearts & another service? How did you KNOW you wanted hearts??

Good luck at JUCO.... Graduated from there many years ago, great program. I used a PDA for calculations & stuff... had some quizzes I had downloaded. Back then, Joes & Silver didn't have any policies on PDA's. Things changed, as do policies. As far as books, I always bought new. I wanted the marks in the book to be my own (highlighting, notes in margins, that kind of thing)... I finally got rid of my books about 1 year ago. Not much else to add, except good luck!

Out of the patient & directly to security, or police officer who is not so patiently waiting for the "foreign object." Check your P & P

Leslie... "bite me" is one of my all time faves...It can be very effective when used with just the right tone... One thing I'd really love to say to TPTB... maybe we have a problem with low morale b/c our charge has the least experience out of all of us & uses bullying tactics to try & distract us all from the lack of knowledge, coupled with the inability to say no to one of the biggest bullies in the nursing profession. And to top it off, you give this same nurse a position of team leader AND nurse preceptor, & this nurse has even less experience than the charge nurse!! I guess shaking your money makers for every doctor & boosting his ego, therefore, making the doctor a happy camper, it's all ok, right?? Where's the little smilie for "barf"

standing ovation for that one!!!

IL 5 OR's $3.50hr callpay w/ 2 hr guarantee 1 1/2 time when punching in specialty team leader pay $2/hr

HA! My hospital combined nurses week w/ hospital week. Had an outdoor luncheon under a tent and gave all employees an polo shirt w/ the hospital name embroidered on it... yawn.... Oh, I forgot about the free meal in the crapeteria & the free ice cream...

hardware... goes to path for gross exam... patient can't have it back, either. BOGUS!! absences... depends on the reason.. usually 5 occurence in 1 yr is verbal, next is write up, next step suspend, next step... seee ya Haven't done a local case in sooo long... i couldn't tell ya.. but i think our patients need at the very least a hep lock.

Ummm, nope. We don't even have computer charting yet.

Things may seem quite technical, but it is considered patient care. Everything in that room revolves around the patient, who is usually unconscious. We are the eyes, ears, and advocate for that patient, regardless of how much "care" you may or may not have seen. Most of our work is done behind the scenes. When you get another opportunity to observe, pay special attention to the patient interview, the assessment, the chart review, etc etc... As OR nurses, we have honed our assessment skills. We have to. We have so little time with our patients while they are awake & they are literally putting their lives in our hands. We don't have time to review the chart at a whim. It needs to be done before that patient rolls back to surgery. What you perceive to be a a lack of care, is actually a very well planned and orchestrated nurse - patient encounter. If you are talking about things like foleys, iv's... you probably just observed some really short cases. We don't routinely insert a foley for a 1 hr surgery.... that's reserved for longer cases, total joint cases, or trauma patients (just a few examples & not an all-inclusive list.) Of course, things vary from case-case, or surgeon preference...IV's are usually by anesthesia... Look a bit harder & you'll see what you missed...

Wow... I can't imagine not counting, everything. Our count sheet is also part of the patient record.. scissors, clamps, & everything else included. We make time, whether or not the surgeon wants it. I guess it just depends on the room staff.. most of our docs are quite compliant and patient while we count. It's their license, as well...

Ohhh man.. I would so pick job #2. But that's just me.

Ha...I remember seeing that "Instead" product & thinking "uh uh, no way" Female wise, I've been pretty darn lucky & am almost so on the money when I start, I could probably set my watch to it... As far as makeup goes, usually just mascara. If I'm feeling super perky & wake up with time to spare, I might throw on some eye liner, and I use the Burt's bees lip stuff, soooo, I'm pretty low maintenance in the makeup department.

Here's the Disney link... just do a search like you would on Monster or the like... I haven't seen any openings in Orlando for awhile & when I did, hubby didn't want to go...ughgh...

My hair stays wet all day long... b/c I insist on taking a shower when I get home AND before going in the morning. So many patients are just so darn dirty! Not to mention spatters of ickk landing anywhere & less than stellar housekeeping. Anyway, good idea Marie, about not clipping hair up the same way every day. I get headaches everytime my hair reaches a certain length, no matter if it's in a pony, clip, bun, whatever the style. The excess weight just pulls. Guess I'll cave & go get a trim on my off day.

I'm guessing the Puddle Guppy is like "The Snake" floor suction??? Absorbomats & having tandem suction & extra cannisters ready to go seems to work for me. A few of our docs will use the pouch & a cysto bucket to collect any excess fluid.

Hey Issey...I was just checking in to see how you were hanging in... I frequently have to remind myself that it is not my problem if some jerk of a surgeon/co-worker/resident/med-student/ supervisor, etc, etc is in a bad mood. Heck with them. Don't let them ruin your day or your experiences. Too much cool stuff to learn. I've also been in a rough spot at work & sometimes just having a day off during the week really helps. LOL, sometimes 2... I was thinking about saying hell with it the other day & saw a piece of something on the ground while we were trick-or-treating... It was a laminated bookmark with the Serenity Prayer. Now, if that's not a sign from God to stick it out, I don't know what is...Hmmm, maybe it was God telling me to get out while the getting was good, LOL.. Either way... we are responsible for our own happiness... Hang in there.

Good idea... We don't really "recycle." We "reprocess" things, like tourniquet cuffs, drill bits, saw blades... mostly stuff you would never want to re-use... Ughgh

Awww... You'll be ok. Since I've quit smoking, I've found that I'm using my "dang it, I'm having a craving" breathing, every time I'm having a bad moment at work. It really helps, alot. I'm looking into agency... I get treated like crap anyway, so I figured I might as well get paid a bit more to deal with it. Plus, I am soooo tired of getting crappy cases & screwed with call b/c I refuse to play kissy face with the bosses. I've got too many working years left to have to deal with these juvenille (sp?) antics.

LMAO... I'll probably be the one screaming at the staff to wash their hands. My yelling will be peppered with a variety of expletives, that I'm screaming at the top of my COPD affected lungs..

surgeon marks site at our place.... I'm thinking it wasn't a nurse who marked the orifice, but a surgeon, being wonderfully sarcastic after getting written up for not properly marking the site. I'm pretty sure it was the clinical educator in our dept that the orifice-marking surgeon was trying to piss off..bwahh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Easy... no call team, no other surgery until the back-up arrives. Most cases aren't that flippin emergent that it can't wait 30 minutes... One more reason why all your duties should be completed as much as possible at the start of the shift.

We have the Trumpf... I HATE IT. It's bulky, heavy, difficult to maneuver. I hate that I can't neatly tuck the sheets, or that there is no nice way to secure someone's upper body on the table. Every piece is so flipping heavy, nothing is neatly marked for people like me who like things labelled & CLEARLY marked, insert part A into part B.... I don't do well looking at an instruction manual LOL I think the worst part is not having a cart specifically for the table, to properly dismantle & put the pieces away in a useful manner... People take it apart & just throw it anywhere. But that's just TPTB being cheap & co-workers being lazy slugs or just too ignorant to ask how to properly do something.... Did I mention I hate the trumpf table?

If we don't have pre-printed pre-op orders for antibiotic, scd's, we actually write in the chart as a verbal order for EVERYTHING!!!! Verbal order: insert foley immediately prior to surgical procedure Verbal order: apply scd's to bilateral lower extremities verbal order: bupivicaine 0.5% plain, 20ml to sterile field for intra-operative administration.... Yeah, it's that bad!