tracern77

Good Luck!

Just wondering if anyone is planning on attending...that's all! :)

You actually have to be in practice as an RN for at least 2 years before you can even take the orthopaedic certification exam (ONC). You also have to have at least 1000 hours work on an ortho unit. So I'm surprised that they are telling you they can certify you after a year. hmmm. The training sound great. It's nice that they allow you to go and watch every surgery. I think it gives you a better appreciation as to what the patient is going through. If you train for 8-10 weeks...and don't have patient care until after you've completed your first 8 weeks...do you only get 2 weeks of experience on the floor with patients before you are on your own? That might be a little scary for you, might want to have them clarify that. Hope you like ortho...it's great, patients seem to go in and out faster than just surgical, and most patients are fairly healthy. Good Luck!

I graduated from BCON in May of 1999. Great program. They did everything they could to help the students out. It was great to get some one the gen ed classes at BCON when UW-Green Bay was not able to offer them. In talking to my collegues...BCON sounds like a top of the line program...small class sizes, and very dedicated professors. I also love it that the community donates so much to the program. I think pretty much everyone who applied for a scholarship, got one. The learning lab was great and the library with with all that info at your fingertips. I went to BCON when it was only on the bottom floor, i heard it's expanded now! That's great. Best of luck to you!

Our hospital started using FNB's in our Total knee replacement population about 1 1/2 years ago. They seem to be working great! Alot less side effects than the epidural, and great pain relief when they work right. We usually D/C our FNB's on POD#2. Sometimes we don't always have a Nurse anesthetist on duty, and the nurses aren't trained to pull them. So you have a patient trying to do therapy with this FNB still in. Can't be the most comfortable. Unless we can get an anethesiologist up to do it in between cases. Anyway, my question is...do any of you pull them with a surgeon's order? Have you run into any problems? They don't seem that difficult, but everything comes with it's complications. We will probably develop a competancy so all the nurses can eventually pull them, in the meantime, we are just going to train a few of us before we train the rest of the staff. Any input welcome, or if anyone has already developed a competacy or has any education materials...it woud be greatly apreciated!