mercys

Thanks,the situation has been resolved. A allergy to the non latex gloves. A switch to different gloves and a glove liner has taken care of the problem

Well I am 66 and still on the call rotation 1 time a week and about every 8th weekend. I usuall do not have to stay over and occasionally I give up 1 of the weekend days. But I am part time and that makes a difference. I do not know of any hospitals in my area that have no call after a certain age.

We count on open Hernias,some do on lap Hernias.Just the first count incase we open. Basicly I feel it is up to the Tech to make sure nothing is left,know your sets. When we first started Joints years ago,we were told to count the inst. Ha that lasted 10 minutes.Impossible and then there were only a few trays.Of course there is always a post op xray. I understand there is a wand of some kind that can be waved over pt to detect metal. Is this true or is someone messin with me?

How in the heck could anyone leave a lady partsl rectractor in. You could not close the legs with a retractor in,I mean Heaneys,sides etc. Now I Am worried.I just read a article from ARON,some hosp not counting inst. They say it is a waste of time and the surgeons agree. I dont know about that!

In the past policy states not necessary to count inst on lady partsl cases. Now the manager wants counts on d & cs. This is overboard.I am more concerned with the small items on the table. Disposable inst tips,indicators,marker lids,needle caps,ect the list can go on and on. I scrub and am concerned about those things, not losing a vag retractor or a lap inst on a lap hernia.

So a Doc left a cervical cup in pt lady parts after Lap Hyster.We discovered it in Recovery Rm. We did not count all vag inst on these cases. Now Manager want counting on all vag cases. Put up sign Count Inst on all cases where there is a open cavity with tissue around it. So what do you think.Do you count inst on total joints,neuro cases. This has not been addressed yet as she has been in contuinual meetings since. We do not like the wording. A mouth is a open cavity as is a hip or back. What do you think about that wording.

With all the new staplers,Harmonics and Ligasure,I very rarely have to pass a tie anymore. More suture ties or stick ties than anything. Ortho seems to be the only service left where you are moving and busy the whole time.

We all pretty much use Avagard or a alchol based spray. I am interested in the glove liners. Wonder if they have helped anyone. I have a honey based cream I bought at the home show. The maker said it totaly cleared up his daughters exemia.I guess the antibacterial properties of the honey is great. I may take him some to try.

One of out surgeons has breaking out on his palms. Looks like aligator skin. Nothing has helped. Dermotologist recomended glove liners. Any one use these and do they help people with bad skin problems. He has tried creams,different scrub products. Latex free goves of course.

She is right. At our hospital we have minor packs,major packs. total joint packs. We just open gloves suture and any extras pertaining to that case. The saveings on time will make the difference eventually. Oh and we also have neuro packs and laproscopic packs. We are a 7 room OR with cysto,do a lot of totals,and general cases.The outpatient next door has 4 room and have their own style of packs. They can turn over in minutes. They keep the days cases in case cart in room. Tech takes insts to inst room grabs a cleaning cloth,wipes table and bed and is ready to open. They do not mop unless there is spillage. I have adapted this for my ENT service,and can turn over by myself while nurse gets pt.

The inst come in their own trays.I dont think they would fit into genesis. Anyway the hospital couldnt purchase that many trays. I guess theres no way to make it easier. I wish the Docs would decide to use one system,and the hosp would purchase that.The inst are brought in the day before.

The people in CS are processing and wrapping 100 trays most Sundays,and almost as many during the week. Usuall 2 people work on this. It is causing bad shoulders,backs and a lot of heavy work. The trays were very heavy so the Reps broke them down and now even more trays. Any solutions. I took a small table down yesterday and asked the tech to try wrapping on it. Maybe move the table as she wrapped instead of moving the tray. Are their any special wraps that a tray can be put in and sealed without time consumming wrapping. Help. I was glad to give up scrubbing totals due to lifting and positioning heavy trays.

All of our beds have gel pads or the bed itself is gelled. Use extra gels for certain procedures that require odd positioning.

What is the Nurse Manager doing. Hideing things,that should be a reason to get a warning and then out the door. Our Anest techs help with turnovers,at least clean and take out trash. Who is in charge of this OR and what are they doing. Sounds like the big problem is no management.We are fairly small,7 ors and a cysto room. Turnovers are about 20 min depending on the case. I do ENT and turn over while nurse get pt. I only clean bed and table and have all the smaller cases on one case cart. We have most of the time 2 housekeepers to clean.Even when we only had the 4 rooms,before remodling we had 2 housekeepers. They make so much difference.

This Or needs a extra person to help out. Not a nurse or tech even.A person to turn over inst,help clean,move patients,etc. Most small ORs in my area have a inst tech that cleans inst ,and helps with everything else. Your hospital seems to be squeezing every drop out of you.

A SA and a PA are two different things. SA only assist during surgery. Can work for hosp or DR. PA is not trained to assist in surgery. He is like a medical assistant,paperwork,seeing patients. In order to do surgery he has to be trained additionally. In my hospital,a new PA comes with the Surgeon and is trained by them or relying on the SA. Most of our SA were techs that were trained on the job by the surgeons and other SAs. We even have a SA that started out in the inst room,we trained as a Tech then trained as a SA. Of course I dont think that happens so much now. Maybe in the smaller rural areas.

As a Or Tech I have to say you are right about the card sometimes. But I find that I can open supplys as I read the card,Im allset. But then Dr asks for something not on card,CS has changed the setup pack and does not have everything.We use complete packs for all cases,but we also get supplys from our outpatient area. Their supplys are not same as ours.When they pick case it can be different.EX for small cases they use dressing sponge for case,go figure,guess its cheaper.No basins in pack.When in a hurry I dont always catch this. My Peeve,nurses that wear disp gloves to circ a funky case. But they do not change them,chart get supplys. For crying out loud,just keep your hands bare,at least you will use cleanser after each touching. Dont touch pen,papers,etc with those gloves. And dont get me started on anest. Wear disp gloves for funk case. But keep them on and dig through your anest cart.Oh yeah thats ok. And what about handing off such as chest drain container. Does anyone wipe them after they have been transferred to floor. My gloves are contaminated,and nurse picking up drain when pt is moved Yuk.I could go on and on about break in technique,but some co-workers just do not get it.

Thanks. We have a great housekeeping staff that cleans everything. But they wipe do not struggle to remove residue. I guess they are clean aside from the disgustingness of the look. Maybe someday there will be a ezclean covering for things like that. What sets me off the most. Getting a roll of tape from drawer and finding hairs on it. Tear off a strip you idiots.Do not use the whole roll to pick up hairs. And when finished at end of case donot put leftover good roll of tape on my mayo.

If you spend the time and money in tech training do not do the LPN. It will not make any difference. My hosp pays LPN and tech the same. And unless hosp goes back to using LPN you may only have option at nursing homes. And the big bonus most hosp pay for continuning education. So you may be able to work as a Tech and have the hosp pay for most of nursing school. I have worked with several techs that did this and a few surgical assistants. Hard to do but it is doable.Good luck,

Sadly there can be jealousy toward a new nurse,when she is attractive,hardworking and even helpful. Why,who knows. I would think you would be able to let the Manager know when YOU are comfortable circulating. Our new evening charge took 1 year to be ready. Try to hang in,hope for new hires. Personally I am thrilled to have a new nurse to help me with my work. Each person hired is less call for everyone whoohoo.Give it more time,I am sure things will get better.

I have been a surgical tech for 40 years. i am a LPN that learned to scrub on the job.Back in the 60s it was almost see one do one teach one. Most of my nurses want to scrub,they are tired of paperwork and running their butts off. Yeah,I do not make the same salary,but not the responsibility. I have spent a lot of time teaching new nurses. Most of them welcome my help.Many a experienced tech has ''circulated'' from the mayo stand. Directing new nurses.And if you decide to go into nursing ,the experience will be incredible, and you will be almost OR ready

Yeah I agree with everything,but I scrub and often ask for suture one at a time. I expect the nurse to bring back several if she has to leave room. With the cost of everything I am not putting unused suture in the trash. Yes i agree that if there is a large incision ask for enough at the time. I open very conservitly unless it is a emergency and time is critical.

Oh yeah been there many times. 40 yrs exp. But you have to do whats best for your patient. The Doc may be an ass but the patient counts on us.

The positioning sandbags in our OR are disgusting. Stickey from tape residue. The ortho surgeons do not want a towel on the sandbags so they get covered with tape residue. We have tried every product in our OR to clean them. I found one yesterday with hair stuck in the residue. Yuk. Any ideas or a commercial cleaner you have used.