richardsrl

Hey guys, I wanted to throw my 2 cents worth in on this....I was an LPN for 22 years when I got my RN (Dec. 2006). I worked in my hospital for about 8 years at that time. Through HR, I had been told I would have to take about a $3/hr pay cut to start out at a new RN hire pay rate. I was outraged. I told my nurse manager I would look for another job (and I meant it). She just said that was the rate. No help there. Long story short, the manager over my entire department (my nurse manager's boss) came through with a raise to keep me. So 14 months later, I make about $10 more per hour and next month am due for my evaluation and more money. There IS a nursing shortage. I know my hospital has hired nurses from the Phillipines to ease things, but I don't think that worked out too well for them. We ALL had to take a "cultural differences" course. But I think the problem was they could not function as a full RN, there were alot of things they "couldn't" do and also the language barrier. People are comig out of nursing school, but have no experience and as was stated earlier, make more work on everyone else. Gone are the days where a grad HAD to work med/surg for a year prior to transferring anywhere else. I agree, our profession is sadly behind the times. But we are the only ones that can change it.......the question is: HOW??????

I work in an OR in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern KY area. I am pretty sure this has not gone on here. I just cannot imagine this is done anywhere. Like someone else said, what about HIV, Hep C, MRSA....I would consult AORN on that one.

I work 4 nine hour shifts (6am to 3:30pm) to total 36/week, Mon-Fri with days off alternating between Mon or Fri. It is an in-house Women's surgery center (we do scheduled C sections, hysterectomies, laparoscopies, uterine ablations, D&Cs, TVT/TOTs, etc) only open Mon-Fri 7-3 (there is of course, a main OR open 24/7). But ours is all inclusive in that everyone (except me) does everything...admit, follow through the OR and recover the pt. I am an in-house trained RNSA, so I am always in the OR, but can admit, recover, etc. I should back-track, though, and say we do take call about every 16 weeks on Saturday from 7am to noon. It is about 50-50 whether or not you get called in. It is an excellent job and I am pretty happy with it :)

Hi everyone, I am strongly considering taking the CNOR exam after 10 years working in the OR. My Nurse Manager is really "encouraging" me. My issue is that I am only a GYN/OB scrub nurse (in-house trained SA). I know NOTHING about cardiothoracic, ortho, neuro, etc. How difficult did any of you find it? How & what did you study? Is it a "common sense" exam? I do not absolutely HAVE to take it, but I would like to do it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Becky

I work in a LDRP/Women's OR setting. I am strictly in the OR. But in our hospital, an emergent C/S (as someone else said, Mom is put to sleep, no count, etc) is called a crash. An emergency, by our hospital policy, must be done in 30 minutes. But a crash is a horse of a different color.

Another quick way is to just remember this: a typical 18in x 18in lap sponge holds 100mls of fluid soaking wet. A raytec holds 10mls. Blood loss is only an estimation (EBL = estimated blood loss) by anesthesia. Certainly some specialties may require a more accurate EBL, but for what I do (OB/GYN surgery), an estimation is all that is needed. Hope this helps!

I work in a major hospital in the Northern KY/Greater Cincinnati (Ohio) area. I have almost 25 years nursing experience with 10 in the O.R. We get approx $32/hour. No call. We are considered specialty nurses and are paid higher than the floor nurses.