::Goodie::

Feel free to continue to ask questions - Good luck on your journey!!

The large healthcare conglomerate (family? goliath? planet?) of hospitals that I work for requires all three scopes currently, regardless that "Continence" is rarely used in our acute care setting. Some nurses have been grandfathered in that only have W or O, but when they look for replacements or additional staff, ...all three are needed. They also don't post that they need to be "Certified", BUT I've had a manager tell me it's because as a company, it's because they do not care to supplement/tuition match, so the interview algorithm they use weeds out everything that doesn't specify CWOCN. YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY. Continence? It's more useful in my personal life among my perimenopausal friends! j/k - but the Urology department thinks it's awesome - like, "Oh, LOOK! A unicorn!!"! Best of luck - my Emory education experience was terrific.

The confusion may come from the fact that in 1985, the IAET began to require a BSN in order to become Board Certified as an Enterostomal Therapist. In 1991 the IAET became the WOCN Society, and that year also determined that a BSN, or an RN with a Bachelor's Degree, any subject, could become a WOC Nurse. After completion of an approved program, you may have the designation of Wound Care Nurse, Ostomy Care Nurse, Continence Care Nurse, or, full scope WOC Nurse. Full scope nurses may use the letters "WOC Nurse", while those with one or two scopes need to spell out those titles separated by a comma (if more than one) ...You may need a bigger badge!! Perhaps one of the incentives to go on and take the test is to tighten up the name badge. When you complete certification by passing the national tests for each scope (there are 3 separate), you may use the abbreviation CWOCN (for full scope) for example: Jane Smith, BSN, RN, CWOCN. If you are certified in one or two scopes, you must list those individually. Jane Brown, RN, CWCN, CCCN or if dual wound/ostomy you may actually use CWON. Regardless, it's not correct to designate oneself as "Jane Doe, BSN, RN, WOCN" as "WOCN" is trademarked by the Wound Ostomy Continence Nurse's Society. WOCN Society just (Fall, 2018) had a recent campaign reminding the healthcare community of this possible error. It is interesting to note that the first Enterostomal Therapists were not registered or licensed nurses, at all - the requirement was that one had to have a stoma or be closely related to someone living with an ostomy. RN Licensure was required for Enterostomal school only as recently as 1976. HTH, currently I am answering this thread as to avoid completing a paper!!!

I am a procedural RN in an endoscopy lab in a large hospital. We work with the gi and pulmonary docs m-f, as well as take call nights, weekends and holidays. We will come in and perform emergent cases for/with pulmonary- making arrangements for crna attendance, prepping scopes, setting up and assisting bedside, then breaking it all down and processing the scope back in our suite. While we don't often come in for them overnight, a weekend therapeutic isn't unusual for a pt who's "drowning"... a rare foreign body retrieval, and sometimes a donor Bronch. We did a bronchoscopy for tracheostomy placement just yesterday! Edit: we do have one doctor who will grab the NON video Bronch cart and perform a donor bronch himself if it's in the middle of the night - and we'll find the cart and the dirty scope in the middle of the lab the next morning. That's only happened once in the last three years, but I've heard he's done that a time or two in the past to save calling one of us in the middle of the night... HTH

We use draw needles in most cases, and we have one particular forceps - the Moray - each which comes packaged with what is *probably* a dental pick. We usually run them through the DSD re-processor and they wind up.... somewhere.... and then we use a needle because they're RIGHT THERE, clean, cheap, and handy. The specimens from that particular tool are TINY, while larger than what we get from an FNA. HTH

At our world famous heart/cardiac centered hospital... Nights - most often 5 patients (4 is a luxury, 6 isn't unheard of...) regardless of drips or Sx prep/acuity; NO techs; frequent admissions; monitor techs in the monitor room; monitors in the unit hall and in the nurse's station; floating unit secretary - often none. There is transport in the morning. Days - 4 sometimes 5 patients but frequent discharges and admissions, no allowance for drips or acuity; 2 - 3 techs; same set up with monitors and monitor tech in the monitor room; dedicated unit secretary; transport available. I've moved to special care, cardiac short stay (post cath) tops out at 4 patients each with rare 5th patient... we are trained to pull sheaths as well. No techs at night, very nurse-y... no monitor techs or monitor room - we monitor them ourselves, in the hall or in the nurse's station; they are hooked up for frequent intensives. TONS of assessments/evaluations and CHARTING.

Hi! Anyone have the link to the .pdf? Or, helpful cohort... would someone please send it to me at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX T I A edited to add: I found this link and there are two helpful docs to take a look at - it may very well be the .pdf (+ another doc) we were all looking for. No exact questions, just good basics, folks. https://allnurses.com/nclex-discussion-forum/passed-my-nclex-750555.html

Our nursing program (I am a senior nursing student... Sooooo close to being done!!!) doesn't allow stethoscopes to be worn around the neck. Mine live in my cargo pants pocket - which drags down my pants and catch on various pieces of equipment, but whatyya' gonna' do? I figure my blinding white student nurse uniform distracts from my lowriding pants overall....

Well, an old saying goes: All you need to start a new meeting is a resentment and a coffee maker! Honestly, just stick to a format that you can all agree on for a few months (until you take a new group conscience); try not to let it turn into a **** fest or group therapy. It's an AA meeting.... One that a buncha' nurses happen to be drawn to... good luck in your journey! (All of us!)

Swabs are cheap, infections are "expensive"!

I just realized I read this while eating breakfast....

i'm crushin' on the orange, too.... i've heard it's one of the colors that won't grow legs!!! and i *like* orange. we wear whites and have a dark green arm patch... so i'm thinking "personality" is a plus.

From another one of us who's doin' it "Old School"... it is SO SATISFYING to go back to school and have what it takes (the desire, the drive, the passion) to suit up and show up and succeed. Seriously, I might have another degree in something ENTIRELY unrelated, but my satisfaction and my ability to commit are very high. I am very excited to be on this path. Best of luck to all!

You are all angels on Earth. Wow. Just WOW.

I'm so glad you asked this question. I need to take this next summer. I took A&P 1&2 in mini-mesters over the summer and it was intense, but the schedule doesn't work for me to take Micro IRL during summer - so RODP or Nashville State it is.... I'll be watching this thread for further info! THANKS.