AngelGail

A new reference book with humor & entertainment included?!? Sounds like a best seller, but I'm not sure how concise you can get with so many different types of surgeries out there, & new ones being invented each year. I remember when they first started taking gallbladders out via scope (I'm dating myself here), & now it's routine. After more than 25 years in the periop arena, I've seen a lot of changes, & a lot of new equipment being introduced. I think AORN is still the best source for information regarding recommended OR practices, & I highly endorse membership. Yet, Alexander's has always been the book of choice for specific procedural descriptions. It's been around for years with many new updates. Face it, any medical reference book can be a "sleeper". Even so, there's always a little bit of difference in the way procedures are performed by different surgeons at different facilities. I've worked at 6 different hospitals, & practices have always been a little bit different at each place, no matter the service. OR nursing is not a concise field, there are always DIFFERENCES depending on where you go to work. If you understand the basic safety and comfort measures for the intraop patient, then learning other services & specialty areas is a matter of learning surgeon preferences & how to operate specialty equipment. I've always jumped at the chance to learn new services by observing & asking questions of those who were the experts. Some surgeons love to teach. Volunteer to "help" the nurse who works another service. I've found that this is the best way to learn something new in the OR. If you do decide to write "Periop Nursing for Dummies" & get it published, I'll be one of the first to buy it.

Hi jakecruz17, There are others out there who could probably give you a different view as to how you should proceed, but here goes my suggestion. Do you need to work? If so, the CNA program, which takes less time to complete, may be your first choice. You can gain a lot of experience as a CNA, but the pay doesn't compare to being an RN. I don't know of any career mobility programs for converting CNA-LPN without completing the entire LPN program. I would suggest that you don't even bother with the LPN program if you want to go for RN, unless the school you select has a career mobility program LPN-RN. Sometimes, the RN programs have a waiting list, so you may choose to start as LPN, then return for RN. There are plenty of nursing schools in Florida. I would do some research to see which of them would accept the credits you received in Puerto Rico, and which would suit your situation. Was the school in PR accredited? With PR being a US territory, the program may be associated with another school in the US. Unless you have plenty of clinical experience, I don't suggest taking nursing classes online. I'm working for my MSN online now, but I have 30+ years of working in the field. What ever way you decide to go, don't give up if you hit a few barriers. There IS a program out there that fits your needs, and nursing is one of the greatest rewarding career choices.

As a seasoned OR nurse most of my funny stories relate to surgery, surgeons, and scrub tech students. One of the pranks we always liked to try on the ST students new in the field was to have them search for items that were difficult to locate. We had a particularly "smart" student who acted as if she knew everything there was to know. So, we decided to put her in her place, and got one of the surgeons to go along with us. One day she was scrubbed in to observe an abdominal procedure. The surgeon was explaining what he was doing as he went along, but putting much more emphasis on the "severity" of the case. Suddenly, he acted as if something was wrong. "I need the fallopian tube STAT," he cries. Being the circulating nurse, I acted as if I was much too busy getting other supplies, and screamed for the student to break scrub and run get what the surgeon needed. The student feeling as if she was sent on a mission of importance stepped away from the OR table, ripped off her gown, and ran out the door. She was gone for quite a while, when she returned with the supervisor. The supervisor, who was also in on the gag, says, "We are all out of fallopian tubes, Dr. _____." We all burst out laughing, and the student suddenly realized what was going on. Needless to say, she didn't act so "self important" after this. :chuckle :chuckle Do any of you have funny stories about the OR?

Hello to all, I'm new to the role of Nurse Educator, but I'm an "old" nurse with 30+ years of working experience. My specialty was the Perioperative arena, but after many years of dealing with hospital politics, I decided to take a new route. I am now a nursing instructor for the ADN program at a junior college in the panhandle of Florida, and I'm loving it! In addition, I'm working towards my MSN through an online program. Currently, I'm the lab and clinical instructor for first year students. As a first year instructor myself, I think this was an excellent place for me to start. Any advice or hints would be most welcome. :thankya: