StakRN

Hi everyone, while waiting for the manufacture to respond, would like to know your opinion on our debate at work today. Does the expiration date (indicated by the manufacturer)on a disposable, single use sterile item mean that the the item is no longer sterile or sterility is compromised? Would the sterile field be considered contaminated if the expired item was opened on the sterile table/field? thanks in advance ( expiration date was only 2 years after the manufacturer's date).

Hi everyone, just need some advice on where on the internet is a good resource for surgical draping. I have alexander's, but in need of additional resources, pics and videos. background: I have been a surgical nurse for 2 years , 90% of the time circulating. I will have to scrub a case tomorrow and very anxious about draping, it's like draping is my nemesis . I have done this particular case a lot of times already but mostly circulate. I can handle the case itself but for some reason I simply cannot drape. I will have to do an abdominal drape and upper extremity drape. I have seen and observed and really paid attention the scrub persons drape in the past but my learning style is different, I have to actually do it a million times. I am expected to do this on my own tomorrow, and also by now I expect especially myself to know how to drape, If only i can get thru the draping then I'd be fine. I appreciate any help. thanks.

Hi everyone, I was wondering if someone can help me , I am being trained to scrub and tomorrow I will be doing a aaa. I do have Alexander's but I need to get into specifics. Like for example when to get the shods ready, or when to get the vascular clamps ready, what to have on the mayo after clamping the aorta ..etc.. I know it may seem like common sense to some but I am really nervous, I have circulated AAA but have not scrubbed it. Or if someone can direct me to a website that has those step by step type of thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated and will help me go to bed tonight Thanks !

thanks for the replies..i would surely look these up ...it will be good to familiarize myself with these medications as I haven't encountered them before in my school clinicals...

Hi ! I am new to the OR - about 3 weeks into orientation, and I was wondering if anyone could help me out and make a list of what the commonly used medications are in the OR. I haven't got the chance to really look over the meds in our med room. I know that I would need to look up meds before giving them or putting them on the field but I would just like an idea of what is commonly used so I can look them up on my spare time and have the info ready on hand when I need them. So far I know of 1. Marcaine - to inject to trocar sites 2. Marcain with epi 3. Lidocaine 4. Fibrin Thank you very much in advance..

new grad base is 23.10 plus x 1 1/2 after 8 hours , so that totals to 26.95 ( plus night diff - I dont know how much). Then after 6 months goes up to 28.00 something -total.

hi ! i work at huntington, and I agree with RNDUDE, it is a great place to work..i just started as a new grad last august. Their new grad rate is low compared to others but for me I think that it's okay, they give lots of support for new grads, staff is great and helpful, welcoming and benefits are good too, also in a good area -so that I think that is a big factor - I would rather work in a place that gives slightly low wage than in a place where you get paid more but not get the support that you need and be "healthy working environment". Also, I was told a lot of staff members use the hospital to get their own medical services done - so to me that means they trust the hospital and its staff. - hope this helps..thanks

hi thank you everyone for the support and encouragement, just an update - everything is going smoothly so far, just started my perioperative nursing classes at a junior college -where we also have labs where we practice gowning,hand scrub, skin preps, etc . and I love it ..staff in our unit are all very nice, welcoming and helpful - and the surgeons I've met are so far are nice - one even really took the time to tell me about the whole entire surgery. I know that it will not be like this all the time especially when they give me more responsibilities and when cases get hectic or stressful but at least I know that I'm in a good place.

hi nurselatino..just like you I start tomorrow..i am very nervous and also excited because the OR is the unit that i've always wanted to be in..Graduated last december and got my license on april - I do not have any OR experience - only the 2 observation days that we got in school. I don't know if I can sleep tonight...=...

As a new grad in Pasadena, CA , Operating Room, they start me at 23.10 base pay and after 6 months 24.75 - very low for California - but OR is hard to get in ..so I took it. And since it's 1 year training i'll be working mon to fri /8 hours so I don't get night/weekend differential and no 1.5 after 8 hours Other hospitals like med/surg unit or DOU offers around $27-30 an hour plus night/weekend differential

correction to the ncsbn review price that I posted few days ago : it's 3 weeks = $49 5 weeks = $69 8 weeks = $99 15 weeks = $159 http://www.learningext.com/products/rnreview/review.asp the questions they had are very challenging , which is good because it really trains you to think .."nclex" way....

hi! what i did was I just mostly did practice questions..thousands of them.., i used kaplan and ncsbn -http://www.learningext.com/ - i paid $99.00 for 3 weeks access, they have questions and also content- which gave me good practice, most especially on how to attack the questions..kaplan also has an online question bank

Hi ! I am also in the same dilema. I got two job offers. Hospital A - is a 153 bed hospital, offered me a position in DOU (which is my 2nd choice) pay is much higher, with shift and weekend differential, even the day after thanksgiving is considered a holiday. Everyone that I talked to really likes working there,,even my friends that are still students. hospital B - which is a bigger hospital is hiring me for the operating room (which is my "dream job" and passion), base pay is $10 less..but has sign on bonus, employee referral(my friend will give me half ), tuition reimbursement. has better benefits. Both hospitals have a great new grad programs and both managers - I can tell will give me great support during my first year as a RN. and from talking to employees from both hospitals , both really take care of their RNs. I've been really thinking about it and I chose the OR because like what they say "find a job you like and you'll never have to work a day in your life" even though that it's a $20,000 a year difference which was very tempting coz I have a lot of student loans and debts, I chose the place where i would really be happy and like what ukstudent said being happy is important, I want to wake up each day knowing that i'll be going to a place where I want to be. thanks.

congrats !!! I too got a hired at a unit where I've always wanted to be in - the operating room ! congrats on your engagement too !!!

hi thanks everyone for the congratulations. Anyway, I got a call back for the OR position and they offered me the position..yipeeee..! I start orienting most likely mid june or july. Can't believe that there were only 2 positions open and they picked me. I'm very very excited... By the way I am also 5'1, does anyone any "comfy" shoes that will also add height? hhehe sorry I know it's a silly question. thanks.

hi ! i know this thread is already old..but i would like to give an update to anyone that is interested, anyways just want to say that I have graduated last December, took the NCLEX and passed !! :smiletea2: on April 2 and I have an interview with the OR nurse manager today...yipee Thanks again everyone for the advice....

hi Yoginurse..congrats on being accepted to the collaborative program.. I am going to be one of the first graduates of the collaborative program from COC this december. Before I got accepted to COC collaborative, I was about #350 on Valley's waiting list, but collaborative called me and got in right away, I only waited 1 semester, if i waited at valley I still would be on the list until now. COC is a great school, and the staff and teachers are very supportive - however they are very strict on deadlines - in regards to paperwork (health records, etc) but I can understand why. The collaborative teacher is great as well, very supportive - the collaborative program was kinda all over the place, and the technology wasn't well set up then -like the tv conferences but I was in the first batch so now I'm sure that is more organized - it taught us all to be patient and especially, flexible, but the support was great.. After the first and second semester, we were all supposed to go back to our home schools but none of us went back (for some reason we couldn't)and we all continued to COC, which I don't regret at all My coworker is also starting the COC collaborative this January, please feel free to email me or message me if you have any questions about the program or with anything else..I would love to help you, i've been there.. and in the same program too kathy

im in the same boat. I am graduating in December from an ADN program and I feel like I am not ready, it's not so much on the didactic part I am having a hard time with, it's the clinical portion. I'm in team leading now which means we get 4 - 5 patients now and I don't know how I can do my complete assessments in 1 hour before giving the 9 am medications. (and giving the 9 am meds to 5 patients is a different story-because each patient has about 5-10 meds each that I have to look up) Everytime I am on the floor I feel like am I not doing anything right -i feel so dumb, and if I am doing something right, it takes me forever to finish a task, so that means everything else I have to do will be late. I am so glad for this forum, it's nice to know that I am not alone. I just always tell my self "no one said this was going to be easy" and I look up to the nurses and say "someday I will be as efficient and good as they are, so"

Hi ! thank you so much for all the replies...really appreaciate it...I will surely take into consideration all of your opinions and experiences..now I am more sure to go into OR nursing...I even asked my instructor jokingly if I could just stay in the OR for the rest of the semester =) I know that no job is perfect..but I would sure like to wake up everyday knowing that I will be doing what I love most..after all this would be long term..and like what inspir8tion said "why do anything you don't want to do!? Life is too short" and yes what's good about nursing is that if I find that OR or another area is not for me ...there are other choices. I still have 6 weeks of clinicals left and that would be med/surg and 1 day in the ER, so we'll see how I do in those areas..(well med/surg, I already know that I don't see myself in-but I don't want to speak too soon ,still have 5 weeks left). Oh if anyone knows, for the job interview for the OR-just curious what type of questions they ask, and what they look for, or how they determine who they hire and if it's very competitive getting hired Once again , thanks for the support, opinions and encouraging words...can't wait to graduate and pass NCLEX.

Hi! I'm graduating in December from an RN program and always been interested in surgery, in fact I was going to go to a surgical tech school while waiting to get in the RN program. Fortunately I got accepted right away -just waited 1 semester. I did my OR observation last Friday and that was it for me- I have decided that it was where I want to be and can see myself doing. However, everyone I've asked nurses and teachers and said try or do Med-Surg first (at least 6mo-1yr) before going into the OR, In your opinion if I start out on the med surg floor will it help me become better in the OR especially when in comes to prioritization, organization, management, multi tasking and critical thinking skills (I am still struggling with that even though I am in my last semester already) before I go into the OR. I am not the fastest learner but I know that in time I can learn all that -and how fast do they expect a new grad to learn and be able to be fully functional in the OR?. Well what I'm really trying to ask is because I really want to succeed in OR nursing, will going to med surg first after graduation help me become good in the OR? and last question, Is the orientation for the OR exclusive only to circulating and scrubbing? what about pre-op and post op? Thank you in advance =)