wayover20

Our OR has a preop holding area that is staffed by an RN 7a-3p then the circulator(s) manage that area. Now we are told that in-patients needing surgery after 3pm will be held in the pacu, not in the holding area which is right across the hall. Reason: no one to staff it and pts can't stay in holding alone. While I understand the reasoning, I don't think it's fair to the patient to see the goings on in pacu with pts waking up in pain, or vomiting, or whatever. To me that would just compound my preoperative stress. Not to mention the family members who are always allowed to be with the pt until they go to OR.We'll have to deal with them as well. Am I wrong to be against this idea?? My co-workers don't think it's a good idea as well but it seems like the higher ups already decided without input from us worker bees.

Glad to see you're doing great! Good luck in your schooling and hurry up and graduate....we need you out here!

Hello everyone! It's been a heck of a year so far starting with a devastating diagnosis of breast cancer in Jan.2007. Since then I've undergone surgery and chemo and everything that goes with that. I took 6 months off work during this time and when I returned to work in the outpatient surg. area I realized I couldn't see myself staying on much longer. It's sort of like "life REALLY is too short" so why not make that move I've been threatening to for a long time. Well a position came up in the PACU and I jumped on it and have been there for about 1 month and I love it! My background in ER prepared me well for the fast pace and critical care aspects. My preceptor says I won't need much more time in orientation but I want to keep her as long as I can. Well thanks for listening and I hope to learn all I can from this board.

I work in a day surgery unit doing pre and post ops only and work M-F. Although we work very close with pacu and or nurses, we don't rotate thru either of those areas.

Do your best to look polished and professional. Unfortunately too many nurses show up in jeans and t-shirt for interviews (we do peer interviews) and it looks as if they just stopped by on their way to the park. The total "package" is being assessed and speaks volumes for or against you.

As a female with over 30 years in the profession, I am certainly ready for more males to join the nursing ranks. Women are much too clickish and catty compared to males. As well, the males don't particularly care if they wear the lastest fashion in scrubwear, or if their nails/hair is in order. Yea, it's true.

Two of the nurses I work with consistently clock out at the end of our shift, and stay to chart. When I questioned why, they said "oh, to save the unit some money"....like it's some noble act or something. They have been there many years more than I and I fail to see what they're "saving the unit money" got them. We still don't have the supplies we need, the walls are in need of paint and the ice machine leaks. So where did that money go?? I REFUSE to be such a spineless person. Believe me, when I'm done, I leave but if I'm still working I'm getting paid for it.

My once not-for profit employer was bought out by the for profit Vanguard corporation and I can tell you the differences are enormous. I long for the good old days when every patient was given the best care with the best of equipment/supplies by nurses who weren't spread so thin because they were adequately staffed. If the $$ doesn't flow as fast and often as Vanguard wants, beware they will be on the march to cut supplies, cut staff, services, much quicker than any not for profit hospital I've ever worked in.

I see nothing but trouble on the horizon for us. Heck, as it is now...the other day I walked by our break room which is about 15 feet away from the desk, and there was a man sitting in there drinking coffee and eating cookies someone had brought in for us. I politely asked him if I could help him (not knowing what else to say) and he said "no, I'm just having a snack while the nurses check my wife in". THE NERVE!!! I asked him to please wait outside in the waiting area until we called him in, that this was the employee's lounge.

I'm new to the periop area but not to nursing. After too many years in the ER, I am now working the preop holding area and I love it. A situation has come up and I'd like your thoughts to be able to just go with the flow or tell them why I think it's a crazy idea (not that it will do any good). In the preop area at the end of the hall we have 4 rooms that have been used to keep OR x-ray equipment, wheelchairs etc. Now the so called "higher ups" have decided to convert these rooms to ER "overflow" holding rooms for when there are admit pts in ER that no in-house bed is available for yet, be they ICU or med/surg pts. They say they will staff it with whatever type nurse is required to monitor those pts. My director has fought hard to prevent this from happening as these rooms in a pinch can be used for PREOP pts. when we are hit extra hard and need the bed space. But he's been overruled by an out of control nursing director making the decisions. One of my concerns is traffic flow and appropiateness of people walking around/thru the periop area. There is one door (in the preop area) that pts come thru from the waiting area to start their journey thru the periop area. It will still be the only door and now we'll have to deal with traffic control from family/visitors wanting to get down the hall to see the holding pts. As it is now, we have people visiting the preop pts and every so often if the desk is not manned, someone will still try to go thru the main OR doors! I can imagine the increase in traffic and problems we're going to have. The beds they are going to take are in the preop area and just feet away from the PACU area. I always thought the periop area was sort of a closed area because of the nature of OR. As it is now, we allow visitors to be with the preop pt as they wait to go back, but we can limit the number if needed to keep down the chaos. This area of rooms that are being taken has direct view into the PACU as well as the preop area. The route the visitors to the holding area will have is to pass the preop desk, make a left (if they go straight they will pass thru to MAIN OR), pass the preop running board, down the hall and to the right. If they make a left, they enter PACU where no visitors are permitted. Am I just overreacting or being too territorial?

As a former ER nurse, I vote NO to family members present during codes. There are never enough nurses, or the chaplain is still 1hr away, to tend to both the family and the patient. I cringed when I read a post that said families "deserve" to be present during a loved ones rescucitation efforts. NO ONE deserves any such thing. This is not a spectator sport. When my beloved mother was dying in the hospital (unbeknownst to us), she knew it and send us all home (demanded we go home to rest)....saying she would be alright. That night she passed away and to this day I know that by sending us home she was sparing us undue heartache at what was about to happen. She kept her pride and dignity as she always had. To have watched anyone pounding on her chest would have been an awful memory to deal with.

I'm four weeks new to the periop setting and was originally supposed to train as a circulator. After 4 days they begged me to instead work in the pre-op area and I've been doing great thru trial and error. One day we had given fleets enemas as ordered (x2) to a patient. When pt taken back to OR, the surgeon ordered 2 more enemas to be given in the OR suite while the patient was under anesthesia (urological procedure). I know I'm new to this but isn't that a no-no considering the OR environment??

As per my previous posts, I started in the OR just as I planned. I transferred from the ER and was ready for a totally new experience. Well, I spent the first 3 days shadowing my preceptor and taking notes of everything and wondering how long it was going to take to not feel nervous about it all. On the 4th day just before the first case started the OR director came to me and BEGGED me to go train in the pre-op holding area because the only 2 RN's there had turned in their termination notices and he had no one to work that area besides a trusted CNA. I responded "but I wanted to work in OR, not pre-op" and again he said this was an unusual circumstance because he didn't expect both RN's to quit, and my help there would be appreciated. Reluctantly I crossed the OR doors to the holding area. Much to my surprise I find that with my ER experience I am doing a great job of organizing the flow of patients in relation to how they're scheduled for surgery, gettting their IV's and any preop meds going, as well as making sure the preps are done, and all appropriate paperwork and labs are ready. It sounds simple but it isn't when you have 5 OR rooms going and several cases starting at the same time. The grouchy anesthesiologists don't help any either. But I don't let them get to me, I focus on my patients and make sure I do right by them. What is funny about all of this is that about 3 yrs ago, a friend of mine tried to get me to transfer to the preop area and spoke very pleasantly about it. I kept poo pooing the idea because it didn't strike me as a place I would like. Well I do like it and I think this is where my God wants me to be, despite myself. I am very happy here. I recruited a fellow RN to come work with me and she was interviewed and hired and will start soon. We will make an awesome team for this area. To top it off, there is NO call, closed holidays, flexible hours.

I saw that exact product at walgreens.....I'll try them, THANKS ALL!

I bought a pair about 3 weeks ago but now they're not as "cushiony feeling"as when I first got them. If it wasnt' for my heel, they would be great. Thanks for the suggestion Jessica! Marie, I've tried alot of stuff but never the gel pads. I'm going to try that next. Thanks. Hey Penny....about the birkenstocks...this nurse I work with today just got a brand new pair, the only thing she ever wears and loves them. But this nurse weighs 100lbs soaking wet. Don't the hard soles hurt after a while? I know I know, LOSE WEIGHT!