Cyan8181

Another thing to think about is how physically demanding scrubbing is. I scrubbed as a CST for 6 years and then circulated and scrubbed as an RN for another six. I work in a 31 room OR that is staffed 24-7. Even with that amount of staff on, there...

That's an interesting idea. Will you be doing any nursing at all over the next year? I went through an accelerated one year CST program myself and know how demanding they are, but I was able to work at the same time.

You could not be hired as a CST if you have an RN license. Are you doing any nursing at all? How long is your CST program?

My nurse manager once told me after a particularly bad experience that we work in a field where mistakes are going to happen and that some of them are going to be big ones, but that she decided early on that if she were going to be an effective nurse...

We don't have any NPs who work exclusively in our OR, nor do we have any positions that I know of that are targeted at advance practice nurses specifically. Our nurse managers and clinical leaders all have a minimum of a BSN, and our staff developme...

We open both a vag washoff kit as well as a foley kit. I frog-leg (or stirrup for some of the docs doing a TAH) and use the 6 sponges with scrub, dry and follow with the 3 sponge sticks and paint. I prep from the symphysis pubis to the inner thigh...

Acclimating to a new area is always tough, but I'm sorry it's so hard going. Does your OR have a formal periop program? How long is the average orientation? How long have you been there? Do you have any sort of schedule that tells you how long yo...

They'll be staffed 24-7 then so there might not be a lot of call. You could always see if they train and have call for laser or cell saver though.

The only specialty at my hospital that covers their own area exclusively, and so takes call, is Open Heart. Other than that we are staffed with three teams on the weekends and two teams overnight so we don't normally have any call.

yoland, use your resources. How are your relationships with the surgeons and PAs who round on your floor patients? My boss (in charge of the neuro area of the OR) interacts with the surgeons and PAs all day. Can one of them introduce you? When I...

Is your surgical tech program one or two years? If you went to nursing school, ADN or BSN? Is there a wait list for either? I know two people who are on the waiting list for nursing school (about two years out) and went to tech school in the meant...

That sounds so awesome! It's going to be really hard not to see my school peeps all together in one place every day.

Yay us! NCLEX tomorrow morning and graduation Thursday night, in a white nursing dress with hat, no less. Ugh. But after that it's on to the surprise vaca to Europe my spouse planned and hid from me for months. I start my new job May 6, but have deci...

Congratulations! I passed my final today as well, but my school doesn't have graduation until next week. That's okay, it will be a week and a half of bliss! What are your plans after next week? Job yet?

The only difference in pay at our place is between the Open Heart team and the non Open Heart team, ie everyone else. Because we're staffed 24/7 there is generally no call for any of our OR staff with the exception of OH. Because they cover their own...

i guess i'm unclear. are you saying that the internship you've been offered is unpaid? we have a 6 month or internship program, but it pays the same as all the other nursing positions in the hospital.

NaviCare for the OR schedule stuff and Sunrise Clinical Manager for the patient stuff.

Unfortunately it's so vague and, in my experience, has never gone the same way twice. Sometimes the doctor doesn't want to see it and sometimes it the patient who isn't ready to hear it. Have you read this article from the New Yorker? I thought it...

Are you wearing lead?

This could so be my thread, word for word. I have 10 weeks left which comes out to be 20 lectures and 20 clinical days. I just keep telling myself that I can do anything for 40 days. I've been successful in school; my grades are good and I have a ...

After my instructor encouraged us to find some "new" topics, I did mine on growth attenuation. It's using hormone therapy (along with hysterectomy, oophorectomy, breast bud removal in some cases) to keep profoundly developmentally delayed children f...

Not sure the unit you are looking for but Skyscape has it available for a bunch of them. http://www.skyscape.com/estore/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductId=2210

Hi Blue Cat, I'm a CST and am anxiously looking forward to the end of my third semester of nursing school in a few weeks. Originally I didn't think that scrubbing for the last five years was going to be particularly helpful in nursing school, but I w...

I use a netbook at the hospital my school is affiliated with, but not on the floor. If I'm taking info from the (computerized) chart in the library or another non-patient care area, I'll use it. If I am on the floor or at another clinical site, the...

I've been a CST for 5 years now at a big hospital. I scrubbed only open heart for my first 3 years and have since switched to neuro although I scrub a lot of vascular and bigger general stuff as well. Depending on the programs in your area, there ...