elcue

You know, I earn a good salary. It took me 30 years to get here, but the truth is, I have no complaints about my salary. And I'm "just" a staff nurse (by choice). I have hundred complaints (a day!) about working conditions, both labor related and physical conditions And about the corporate nature of medicine. My nurse-colleagues agree with me on this. It's NOT the money that's the big problem. I work in a university hospital, and it is still an extremely corporate mentality. PR is their biggest concern, because they think that telling the public that their staff does community service, or that their staff has advanced degrees or that we have every available surgical robot will foster public admiration for and loyalty to the institution. At the bottom line, patients care about the CARE!

Hi, Lu. I have been an OR RN for 30 years after having worked a few years on surgery and oncology inpatient units. I think it is a mistake for OR programs to accept new grads. We have a program in our OR, and just accepted new grads for the first time. They educators have decided they won't accept new grads again. The "interns", as we call them, had a tough road to navigate. Yes, the skill set in the OR is unique, and yes, we are not respected as "real nurses" by some peers in other specialty areas. We have fought that marginalization of our professionalism forever. The truth is, we care for patients immediately after meeting and interviewing them for only 5 or 10 minutes. After that, they are asleep, and all the information we have is what we've been able to glean from that brief initial interview and the chart. That requires an ability to connect and establish trust quickly with patients and their families, and sharp assessment skills. Assessments must be mentally translated to care plans immediately. In addition, the ability to prioritize needs and to delegate tasks within the OR is key to efficiently facilitating a case. The OR is a "tough room", where it is necessary to stand up for your patient's needs in the face of impatient and/or rude and/or angry docs. (It can also be a place of quite satisfying professional relationships with anesthesiologists and surgeons.) The pace is extremely rapid. It is very demanding, physically and emotionally. It can be very satisfying work. I believe that at least a year on the general patient care unit provides the new grad with an opportunity to "get her legs under her". That is, to further develop the skills and judgement that began in school, gain confident and reliable assessment skills, and gain overall confidence in herself as an RN who can function independently and oversee techs and assistive staff. I do not mean to discourage you from perioperative nursing. Rather, I encourage you to enhance your chance of success by building a stronger foundation after graduation before you attempt to join us in this tough specialty. Best of luck to you, Linda

Thanks for the followup. Have a great weekend.

Thank you for sharing that info. Makes sense. Linda

I wrap them in a pillowcase. (Wrap the case around it rather than putting the gel roll or IV bag inside the case to avoid losing it in the laundry.) I never use towels because they leave ugly marks on skin. We still often use IV bags - I'm unaware of AORNs position against this...anyone care to summarize? Thanks

Dansko Professional (closed back). No question.

Our policy is similar - termination even for looking up your own record. This is no joke. The sad thing is that protecting patients' privacy has always been our ethical responsibility, but it took a huge bureaucratic action to get many to take it seriously....

I'm so sorry you are dealing with this stress. It happens to so many of us and any nurse who makes a med error suffers internally about it. I made the same error, in reverse, recently. I, too, was sick at heart even though I knew the patient wasn't harmed. I had an extremely anxious pre-op patient for whom I heard the doc order klonipin, which made perfect sense to me. He'd actually ordered clonidine. I so wish we had a generic names only policy at our hospital. One of my clinical sites when I was in school 29 years ago had such a policy, and it surely helped clarify things. Try to relax and get your confidence back. You know you are a good nurse. Good luck to you. Linda

We do the same.

You absolutely did the right thing. No question. Good for you. The pharmacy must verify any meds brought from home. Basic safe practice.

Scrubs from home, laundered at home, changed into at the hospital. Any hat/cap is OK.

OR Dude: We have some pretty obnoxious reps in our OR too. The "boys' club" atmosphere between the ortho reps & surgeons, in particular, gags me... Back to your point: I think you should use your "chain of authority" and first report this rep's behavior to the appropriate service clinical coordinator. If s/he is unresponsive, then go to the OR Nurse Manager. It is their responsibility to coordinate matters with the vendors, and therefore to address this guy's/woman's unacceptable behavior in the OR. I think you'd be out of line to go directly to the rep's company on your own. Hope you are successful. Linda

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

PS: This idea is insulting and ridiculous. Absolutely unfair to our less senior colleagues.