tariet

I have worked for an HMA hospital for 3 years (Venice Regional Medical Center). I have to say that HMA has been awesome for us. Yes we've had to make some sacrafices but THE WHOLE COMPANY has made them, not just the staff employees. The upper management and administration here is incredible. They are very supportive and not afraid to come out from behind their desks and give a hand when needed. I am proud to be part of this company and the great way we help treat our patients. It's truely an excepitional place to work.

I have a question to ask. When does the scrub usually leave the OR room? I have noticed lately that the scrub tech's I work with have begun to leave the OR before the patient has left the room. I was always taught that the scrub is the last person on the OR team to leave the room. Anesthesia has begun to "dismiss" them so that they can get a break before the next case, etc... I would love to hear everyones input on this. Thanks

I am the clinical manager of a 9 room surgery and can tell you that we definately are doing surgeries on the weekend. I don't know how other hospitals work but we put our new OR nurses (experienced or not) on call with another nurse for at least 2 months (of course much longer for a "new" nurse). Coming into the OR with no experience isn't like starting anywhere else. There is a much longer orientation period. But once your on your own the call and room finish time adds up very quickly. Where I work we have a 'season' from Nov to May and basically everyone averages at least 10-15 hours overtime (including call time) a week. Add this to seasonal bonuses and it's not hard to almost double your base yearly pay. Of couse it will be differnent in other areas of the country. Right now there is a major shortage of OR nurses in my area so we're offering larger starting base pay with even a small amount of experience. Remember it's an extremely specialized area and by dedicating yourself there you are closing the door to some other areas that you still have open to you if you did the year of med-surg. Besides med surg offers experience that is invaluable to a nurse (new or not).

I think the CNA's need a MAJOR raise. The ones I have worked with in the past are devoted, loving, and communicate the most with our patients. They may not have the schooling we RN's have, but they all are equipted with real people-to-people skills that simply cannot be taught in school. If there were an additional income incentive, we would really have deserved incentive for the best of the best. IN all honsesty, as a student nurse, were it not for CNA's, I would have been very discouraged. MY biggest question is why these invaluable team players aren't more motivated to continue their education. Believe it or not, some CNA's are solely responsbile for alerting higher-ups of patient's sudden chnage in status for the better or worse. WHO else amongst the team is closer to our patients on an emotional level?

In the Icu, we hve no aides. We do all the ABOVE EVERY DAY.

I'm a lefty and can't spell to save my life. I can tell you the definition of about any word and use it correctly in a sentence but please don't ask me to spell it. It's embarassing and frustrating. I envy those of you who can rattle off the spelling to any word while I have to look up the correct spelling. All I can say is thank god for spell checker!!!!! About lefty's living shorter lives than righty's. I've read that it's partially contributed to tools. Next time you pick up a tool, be it a pair of scissors, a frying pan, measuring cup or circular saw, take a second to consider if it's right or left handed. You'll be amazed. Then all you right handers, consider what it'd be like if all these things were for left handers and not right handers and I think you'll be able to understand why lefty's have so many accidents. :-) Although what can you expect when 9 out of 10 people are right handed. Lefty's just have to learn to adapt, it's what makes us special

I to am a nursing student (graduate in Dec, thank heaven) and found myself in your same situation. I have always wanted to be either an OR or ER nurse. VERY luckily for me an area hospital started a orientation program in their OR for nursing students. Considering that for a new grad getting a position in the OR right off the bat is difficult to say the least, I immediately applied and was accepted. This was a new program to the OR at my hospital and I have since found out that not many hospitals in the country are doing this. (But I bet we're going to be seeing more programs like this in the future) It's been difficult, it's like taking 2 very intensive programs at once, but I'm very glad I did. OR nursing is nothing like any other type of nursing, ER included. I'm on the edge of cutting technology (I work for a great hospital), working with doctors, nurses, CRNA's and other tech's of exceptional quality, and I feel I'm helping and providing excellent patient care for my patients during an extreamly stressful period, and oh yeah.... the biology behind surgery is awesome!! I'm realizing that OR nursing and just about any other type of nursing are VERY different. I'd suggest that you contact your local hospitals and see if you can shadow both an ER and an OR nurse for a few days to get a feel for the difference. Both require you to be on your toes and thinking 3 steps ahead but in totally different enviroments and responsiblities. Hope this helps! Tariet