IVyPush-her

1. what is your degree in? bsn 2005, masters june 2012 2. what state do you live in? hawaii 3. what is your job title? rn circulator in surgery, circulate,scrub, prn charge 4. how much do you make an hour? $49.89 5. how much do you make a year? $103,000 6. what do you like about your job? great hours, love working in surgery. 7. what don't you like about your job? day surgery can be a fast paced environment.

Hi! I think I am going to be submitted for the November boards. My recruiter asked for an extension and I have not heard back from her yet. We didn’t get my packet submitted by the 27th. I have 6 years of experience in the operating room with various experiences from pediatrics to cardiac. I am prior law enforcement so nursing is my second career. I love what I do and am excited to take it to another level. I am currently working on my Master’s in Health Care Administration and won’t leave for COT until I am finished next August. CN said to finish the degree first. I could not imagine doing homework while trying to learn other things. I live in Honolulu and started this process in July. The process has not been long for me. It has actually been pretty crazy though. After I read all the posts here I figured I had at least 6 months to get all my stuff together for my application. Boy was I wrong. My recruiter was on me all the time. I guess I assumed wrong because she told me that she wanted to submit my packet in Sept for the Nov boards. I was a bit surprised but agreed to do whatever she told me to in order to keep things moving. I had the hardest time trying to choose my 8 locations. I live in Hawaii and absolutely love the weather here. I was born and raised in California but would not want to live there again. I would love to see some other countries though. My first choice was Nellis then Mt. Home, Peterson, Eglin. I have a 17 year old and is considering going to UNLV hence my first choice. I have spent plenty of time in LV and am very familiar with the weather so if I don’t get my first choice I won’t be heart broken. I am also very thankful that I am still in school and don’t feel like I am playing the waiting game because I really can’t do anything until I finish school next year. I have plenty of homework to keep me busy!

I think I am getting closer to exactly what I want to do. "Proficiency rather than competency has a greater impact on efficiency in the OR". I believe just passing competencies is not good enough. Why can't we be proficient in our jobs? I want to prove that its better to be proficient than just competent. In the operating room there are so many technical skills that are needed besides our general nursing skills. In the long run I would love to implement an extended orientation where the new nurse to the OR has plenty of training to feel confident in the job. Does it make sense? I still feel a bit scattered but I think I am leaning towards the education aspect of this. Thanks again for the input

Thanks you guys. Rob thank you for putting it so simple. So, it will be a bit tough surveying the patient satisfaction in correlation to what we do in the OR. I guess like llg said I need to hon in on what I am really trying to do. I guess that is why I can't come up with a title. According to our patient satisfaction scores there is some improvement needed in the pre op are not so much in the operating room. And a project is now in effect because of those negative comments about too many attempts at IV sticks. As for the reasons I am looking more at the educational levels of the staff. I do like #4 about the relationship between feelings of competency/proficiency and staff satisfaction. Our RN satisfaction scores are not the greatest either which I don't understand. I work at a large facility, the pay is great, the autonomy is ok but overall it's a great magnet hospital to work at. It baffles me, sometimes I think it might just be a culture thing. I see that this subject could also be a very touchy one to deal with. Dealing with nurses perceptions about their job skills is going to be tough. I do like #5 too. I will be meeting my research class on Friday and hope to hon in and not feel so scattered with this subject. I will also explore staff development. Thank you for your input, it helps.

Hi, I am working on a Capstone Project. I have been doing the research in the area of competency vs proficiency nursing in the operating room. Where I work we have an excellent group especially our team work. However, I feel that we could improve further in our knowledge. Our patient and RN satisfaction scores are not where they should be too. We work with so many different machines, equipment, instruments etc. and I feel that we are competent but why can't we be proficient in our field? There have been numerous times where a nurse does not know how to use a certain machine and then looks like an idiot infront of everyone. I want to help everyone feel confident in their perioperative nursing skills,not only with the things we use but with the many different surgeries that we perform. Does further training past our basic nursing orientation really make a nurse feel more proficient than just competent? I am in Nursing Research Fellowship at my work along with working on my Capstone Project in my Master's program. Anyone with experience in research have any ideas for the project title? I am new to research and would really appreciate any help. Thank you IVy

Lunah, glad to hear you are looking into it. Remind me how many years you had nursing I thought it was more than mine. I just passed my 6 year mark in June. Will have my Masters next summer so 7+ years nursing and a Masters is my experience. Stephgor, you only received 5.5 years credit? I am confused then how it works. So, HRC looks at all your credential and makes the determination of what you will actually get? You come in as 1LT?

Well, the recruiter got back to me and she said with the Masters I would get 2 years credit and over 4 yrs full time , paid , qualified nursing experience may earn another rank. I guees it is all up to them when they decide all your information. However, I remember someone posting about a rank their recruiter told them that they would come in as but when it came down to it she or he got a rank less than told. That does not seem right.

Air Force thanks

Could someone explain to me how ranking is determined? I just asked my recruiter to verify what rank I should be entering if all goes well. I will have my masters in healthcare administration and 7+ years of nursing. She told me with my Masters I will go in as an 0-2. I could have sworn she told me 0-3 when I initially starting talking to her.

Sharky, thanks for the info. When you say "wait for a COT to open.." Do you mean they are all full right now and they just shuffle people around depending on what is going on with their application or schedule? Thanks

Sent you a PM

Thanks for the information. I will continue to follow her directions. She is a recruiter out of Los Angeles, I live in Hawaii and she is the neareast one.

Hi everyone, I have read many of the posts here and did get alot of valuable information. Thanks for that. I applied last month to the AF, well I submitted my application to my recruiter. I have all my med docs in order and ready to mail them to her. I won't graduate until August with my masters and won't go until then. My recruiter knows this too. I have not been to MEPS yet but she said I needed to have all my stuff done soon so she can submit my package to the board at the end of September. From all that I have read, I understand that things don't move this fast right? Is she just trying to get me to get all the paperwork, interview,MEPS all done so I can wait around? Im confused. I don't understand why she is trying to get my package in so soon. Is it a year wait once the board selects you? thanks

Sorry about the mispell, as soon as I clicked respond I saw my mistake.

Hey tee bird, is the paper work after MEPS anything like the initial application? Or are you just making sure your application is complete?