boopette

any luck with the interviews? i'm doing the same thing, just started WGU on nov 1

you could email me at [email protected], and I'll send you the email with the questions. I know, my PM box doesn't work for me either as of right now.

yeah it just sucks when you're trying to do a good thing by recycling and all it takes is a soiled gown to ruin all of the goods

My hospital started a recycling program in the OR. Each room as a blue bin with green garbage bags specifically for garbage that can be recycled such as saline/water bottles, equipment boxes and packaging, clean garbage, any garbage opened at the beginning of the case etc. Basically anything CLEAN can go into these receptacles. Absolutely nothing with patient's body fluids or blood can go into this bin. We've had this program for a few months now and still there are some surgeons and residents who don't get it, even though they have been educated and made aware of the recycling program. When they break scrub they continue to put their soiled gowns in the bin, or soiled drapes. It really gets on my nerves. I tell them not to do it and they act like they're never heard of the program before. I was just wondering if any of your hospitals/institutions have a program like this and how it's working out for you.

I have some breakouts on my hands when I scrub. I think I just developed it over time because when I did my orientation I was fine. I've tried chlorhexidine, betadine, and avagaurd. I found that clorhexidine and avaguard break me out the morst. Betadine, not so much. After I scrub I always rinse my arms and hands with soap and water to get the remaining betadine off my skin, and this usually reduces my reactions. Some surgeons who have allergies to gloves use cotton glove liners. One surgeon even has his own sterile cloth gowns at our hospital because he had a really bad reaction to the paper sterile gowns.

We pass sharps by hand most of the time in my hospital. If you cannot get to the blade when the surgeon hands it back to you, they usually just rest it on the magnet and inform you that there is a blade there and to be careful.

It's not unusual for the surgical staff to remove a gown from a patient, depending on the operative site. But I ALWAYS as other nurses, put a new gown on the patient after the procedure. Some gowns may be left on if they do not interfere with the operation. However if there's a lot of blood or irrigation involved then the gown afterwards is covered in that mess and must be changed before the patient leaves for the PACU. Untying gowns is a must to prevent pressure sores from forming when the patient is laying down on the table for so many hours.

I admit that I am an introvert. I have always been. I never thought I would survive in the OR during orientation. When my preceptor told me to do the "time-out" i did the "freak-out" instead. I had to get the attention of all these people? They have to listen to me? But being in the OR now for 2 years I have become way more comfortable in being assertive and standing up for myself and the patient. My job has really taught me how to come out of my shell.

Dear Surgeon, do not huff and puff when I am trying to adhere to the policy of the hospital. You know that before you patient is allowed to come to the OR their consent must be signed, dated, and initialied by YOU, yes YOU the surgeon. Not to mention that they must also be marked with YOUR initials if laterality is involved. It's a safety concern for the nurse, yourself, and ultimately the patient. If you just listened and complied with the policy then you wouldn't have to complain about delays on starting your case.

We do a saline wash as well at my hospital as technicare is no longer available

I never expected to be in the operating room after graduation. Nurse recruiters constantly told me that the OR does not accept new grads.. well on a usual basis. Well I proved them wrong because I'm now an OR nurse. I wanted to do the traditional med/surg nursing to hone my skills from nursing school. After getting the job in the OR, i fell in love with it. It's a place that not many people get to see in a hospital, for obvious reasons. You'll see things that you never thought you would EVER see. And the technology is constantly evolving. 1 - How to gain more experience in the OR as a nursing student? During you clinical rotation, DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING BLUE. Do not even go near anything blue. This is the sterile field, full of sterile instruments and what not. Nurses and scrubs watch the field like hawks to make sure sterility is maintained. And yes, they will give you the evil eye or get annoyed if you compromise that. Work closely with the circulator. Ask questions about policies. Offer to help with positioning the patient. Get as involved as you can with the nursing responsibilities. 2 - Will getting a certificate as a surgical assistant will boost the chances? In my hospital, nurses are required to learn how to circulate and scrub. As expected, the scrubs are excellent in their set-ups and technique. They know where every single one of their instruments are, and can grab them from the table without taking their eye off the surgery. Of course, this is because they've been trained to do this for 2 years. As for nurses, there is some struggle. I myself admit to being not nearly as great as the scrub techs, but I can get by. I can certainly scrub the case, I make take a little longer to put a stapler together or load a suture, but it doesn't mean that I'm not a good scrub person. So no, you don't have to be certified as a surgical assistant. It's usually incorporated into your training. 3 - Is there any test that I can study and take as a new grad to become an OR nurse? You can get certified in the OR as a CNOR once you have a minimum of 2 years experience. You have to take a course and study for the exam, pass it, and then you become certified. As a new grad, I would suggest subscribing to perioperative nurse journals/magazines. Alexander's Care of the Patient in Surgery is an excellent textbook on perioperative nursing.

I agree that proper judgement comes into play. We all know that food is not permitted in the OR. The surgeon would have to be on the verge of fainting and passing out on the operative field in order for me to feed him/her. Otherwise, yes they are perfectly capable of scrubbing out and taking a breather for a few minutes. Especially during long cases.

hi birdie! thank you so much for responding! would you be able to PM me you email address so i can send you the questions? thanks! Boopette

Hi everyone! I just signed up here. What a great site for nurses! I'm currently in a BSN program and one of my tasks is to interview 5 nurses from different specialties. I'm having a hard time finding nurses that I work with to interview, especially in research. I was hoping some of you nurses could help me and participate. You would just have to answer the questions (that I will provide in email). There are no right or wrong answers. After, return the questions and answers to me (via email). If anyone is at all available to take a few minutes out of their day to help me with this assignment it would be greatly appreciated! If you would like to participate, please PM me. Thank you so much!