Ferret

Whatcha pussyfooting with those little things? Something thick needs a heavy blade.. I was thinking a #23. Orthopaedic butcher cleavers... not vascular finesse :rotfl: And if anyone is going to hand out job descriptions, might I suggest your unit ed...

It's not all McLeod's daughters country, my wife loves the show as well. I just spent six months in Tasmania looking for a way out of the unrelenting heat, I love a bit of snow... which is a rare thing where I live. But yes, I have to agree with you,...

Med/surg nurses work on the wards, perioperative nurses work in the operating theatres. The nature of their roles are extremely different, and you'll have to see for yourself during your course to start understanding. Your nursing course will prepare...

I took/take you as a friend. I was pointing out that you had weakened (undermined) or disagreed with my comments, which was ironic when you said you agreed with me 100%. It just triggered my sense of humour, nothing else. Healthy debate furthers a to...

We do all of the above, although the scout counting in is not that worried about being the scout counting out in many hospitals. Our ACORN standards state that three nurses should be in the room at all times that a patient is under general anaestheti...

Hi Corvette Guy, I don't believe in quoting whole posts unless they are very short. Big posts that get repeated several times in forums just end up cluttering the thread up, when they obviously already have been read by anyone reading the forum. Thu...

As promised, try How many RN's scrub? as well as What does "the circulator is in charge of the room" mean in your OR? and OR nursing QUESTIONS threads for more discussion. They're pretty cool threads to read, anyway. Have Fun! Ferret

Actually, in our roles as patient advocate, it is our role to challenge the surgeon about their decisions regarding patient safety if we disagree. They are not the "Captain of the Ship" any more, there has been legal precedent that makes the RN also ...

The scout nurse is our rough equivalent to your circulating nurse. They do the count, open the setups, act as patient advocates in assisting with positioning and ensuring that pressure area aid are used, etc. In most situations the scrub nurse has to...

In Australia the scrub and scout do it. It is preferred that tha same scout that started the count finish it, but not mandatory. How it is handled varies across hospitals, some hospitals are very strict about doing a changeover count when the scout i...

I love the look of relief on a consultant's face when they walk into the room and see someone thay recognise on their team. I love the teamwork, the close relationships between nurses, surgeons, anaethetists, technicians, cleaners... this is a really...

Good humour and chocolate.... I remeber a particular list years ago that was busy, hectic, but the Surgeons and always kept in good humour and took it in turns to bring a couple of bars of chocolate along. Yeah, I know that having chocolate in the th...

In the Law components of the nursing degree in Australia, it is strongly stressed that "Contemporaneous Documentation" ie something written down as it happened or as soon as possible after is considered one of the strongest forms of evidence in a law...

That's the same in all hospitals here in Australia that I've been in (5). Generally, your scrubs are far more likely to come in contact with patients, blood, and pathogens, then your hats, and are made of a special material (high thread count) and ar...

I'd suggest that sweet chilli sauce might make her more palatable. Some people just don't get the whole ritual of sterility, others need calm and patient coaching, others need to consider an anaesthetics/recovery career... I don't think that doing a...

hah, no hospital that I know of has ever specified what typ of underwear you wear. If you get a short sleeved thermal underwear top, they should not be able to say anything about it, if they do, ask them to stop perving on your underwear! Ferret

Actually, I had written a far longer post on the issue that got lost die to a computer glitch (or user error), and I couldn't remember the whole post, so that was something that I wrote inadvertantly, it madse me groan, but fitted sooo perfectly I ha...

There's a name for senior nurses forcing newer nurses to propogate archaic mannerisms that have little or no relevance to the current setting. Horizontal violence. Nurses eat their young. What do you call the guy who came last in med school? "Doctor"...

There are really long posts on this issue if you look through this forum, like pages worth of discussion. But a short paraphrase is, abuse is abuse. Ask them to stop it, document all incidences, then bring it up with management, and stand your ground...

And try not to notice if something comes up during catheterisation...

Where do I get the feeling that you switched from professional to innuendo somewhere in that post? I've been recently caring for a person who has had massive problems afeter someone failed to put his foreskin back in place after a catheterisation. It...

Dear Kim, That is a terrible tale, I'm sorry for you to have suffered so. I've recently suffered a setback in my career that made me feel that things were hard for a while, but your story brought home to me how minor my own hardships were. It sounds ...

If you love the OR, but are fed up where you are, try somewhere else before giving up on the OR completely, as there are massive differences in attitudes in both management and surgical between operating suites. There is a worldwide shortage of nurse...

Operating Theatres are one of those things you either love or hate. If you love it, go for it, but focusing on the OR tends to make it hard to go back to the wards, as theatres require a very different set of skills. I was an EN in theatres, finished...

Some people in the 5 Australian operating suites I've been in test the ballons, others do not. The manufacturer recommends not testing the baloons. The wire inside a size four embolectomy catheter is fine enough to fit down the fluid channel of a fol...