CaliLvr000

That is great! I too am considering making a change. I have been in the operating room for 7 years and I just had my second child. I am just dreading going back to work and it is not a good feeling! I applied to a Kaiser position, but those are near impossible to get. I have been researching online trying to find a work from home tele triage position. I don't even know if anyone will want to hire me due to OR experience. Sorry for rambling... I am just so excited that I have the ability to change specialties as I have felt "stuck" in surgery for awhile now. Where can I find these positions?

The new facility I am working for did away with betadine scrub. They still have paint. Most of the surgeons use Chloraprep stick and I notice nurses just painting it on. The instructions say to scrub surgical site for 30 seconds, and that one sick only covers an area of a piece of binder paper. But this is not my question. I am wondering how you prep with hibiclens/chlorhexidine soap. Say for a foot with an open ulcer. Do you use and dilute with sterile water? Scrub then blot then paint? Curious because everyone does it different. Right now I'm using it straight, scrub on, blot off then paint on like a beta beta prep. Thanks.

Can this be a sticky???!

1circ, 1 scrub. Unless it's a bad trauma and there's extra staff around to help out. In California.

My first hospital I worked at/learned OR nursing, almost got shut down. General surgeon left in a huge blue fish :-\ (he closed so fast and would not wait for counts). Around the same time they removed 3 sponges from another pts abdomen (different surgeon) that had been giving them pain for YEARS. I work at a much better hospital now where surgeons actually care about counts.

Sacramento is cheap to live at rent, utilities is a nice place in Roseville ca is only 1200 a month. California taxes are a tad bit higher but not much. Sounds like California is the best place to live for pay in comparison to cost of living. She works 32 hours a week and brings home 3k every two weeks. Scottsdale is expensive to live. Rents and housing prices are expensive, so are homes. 40 an hour minimum or its not worth moving it sounds like

Yes what pp said. You can just call HR they should tell you. The follow the CA nursing union pay scale. It's based on years of exp.

Nothing against LVNs but just get your RN!!! I can not stress enough.

You can find a job. You just have to go to a hospital in an undesired area. Look into very small hospitals, I'm talking 40 beds. My friend just got hired in Gridley, CA at a small hospital in med-surg now she's already in the ER. Apply there! She only had public health exp...

I hope you like rain!! I lived there for 3 years, recently moved away. When I was in school I lived in Arcata. There's cute places to live there, everything is walking distance pretty much, full of hippies and wannabes. Eureka is where I liked living. I'd recommend Cutten only area. There's tons of sketch places near Broadway and 101. Don't leave any valuables in your car, mine got broken into a bunch. It's a depressed area, pot, the hospital, and HSU are the only income jobs for people. Good luck get your experience and get out!! I was hired as a new grad there and left after only 1yr on a 2yr contact. They didn't make me pay the difference fyi.

Expensive!! We are moving out of state soon :)

I want to move my family to Scottsdale AZ area asap. I currently live in Sacramento ca and make 50.00 an hour. I'm an OR nurse with 2.5 years experience, how big would my pay cut be by moving to Scottsdale? Please only reply if you have first hand experience or know someone who has. thanks

Hey sorry everyone. I meant "or" if that makes a difference. But allen texas is were we are defiantly going, maybe plano tx. She has 2.5 years exp.

Hello, my wife and i are planning on moving to Allen Texas area in June. We currently live in Roseville Ca. She works for Suttter Roseville here. She is getting 60.00 an hour plus night diff. Cost of living is cheap here as well. Is she going to be anywhere near this hourly mark around Allen/Dallas TX? Is there any nurses in TX that even make 70K?? She made 92k last year in 8 months to give you guys an idea what we would be losing if we move to Texas. thanks

Congratulations on your pregnancy!! I just had a baby boy in December, I worked up until a month before due date and went into afib on my last night and was admitted!! Anyhoo, we are okay but everyone was so understanding when I was huge. Didn't let me move pts, assist with kicking pts waking up, lift heavy instruments, no c-arm, and no bone cement. We are a 9 OR level 2 trauma center. There is always plenty of staff so there is no reason a preggo should do a c-arm case etc. You have to advocate for yourself and unborn child. They put you in a bad room without thinking, many times I had to remind them please no radiation. I don't care that we have lead, I still don't trust it. I don't care if someone got ****** off, they aren't growing a human. I worked a lot of call in the beginning, but it got too hard waddling around. We are never expected to work past our shift, except call that we sign up for.

We don't even have ax rolls. They roll up egg crate foam in a towel... I think it's strange that a large hospital/trauma center does not have them.

I think I get around 15/hr standby. Time and a half for getting called in min 2hrs paid. I'm in CA Sacramento area.

Congrats RN SAM!! The OR is a great place to be. I just read through this thread and saw my posts from when I first started. A full year later I still love the OR but I still learn a million things every day and I realize how much I still have to learn. I don't think I will feel comfortable for a while longer, but that's ok and it gets better every day. Just understand that you will feel like you don't know anything some days, but with time it will get much better!! Good luck and keep us posted!!!

Why does the OR make me so HUNGRY??? I am always starving at work even after my meals!!!

Get a new job. Yes they taught you everything you know and you are thankful, but hospitals are a BUSINESS. I left my first job after a year and it was hard, but life goes on and they just hire someone else. Don't feel bad. After looking for jobs I have learned that working for a hospital is a business relationship. Find a higher paying job that keeps you interested. Sign up with an agency and try out some places first. Good luck!!

You have to do what will make you happy!!

Our hospital recently stopped allowing us to wear cloth hats. We now wear the hospital disposable ones. They say it is because there is no way to know if staff is laundering them regularly and to the right temperature.

I am 6 weeks. So far I have avoided cases with c-arm but I fear it will be unavoidable do the shift I will be working soon (nights). A general question for everyone, how does your facility go about this?

Yes, at our facility we are not allowed to leave the department with masks on. Masks around the neck are not allowed because it shows reuse of the mask (we were sited for this as well). So either masks are on or completely off. As for changing masks between cases, I always do because I do not want to transfer bugs from one pt to another.

How do you perform abdominal lady partsl preps? AORN came out with an article this month but they were not positively set on one way or the other. Abdomen, then lady parts? Or lady parts, new prep kit, new gloves, and then abdomen? At my facility people generally start with abdomen and then lady parts then foley. Interested how others do this. Thanks.