poopsiebear

I took the CNOR exam in 12/07 and the exam wasn't bad at all. You definitely need to read the AORN Standards, Alexander's, and Berry and Kohn's texts. I printed the Study Guide from the CNOR Certification website for reference, and I took a review course 2 months before the exam. You do need to know the basics from other services besides OB/GYN because you need to know the incision sites and positioning for other surgeries. You also need to know your anesthesia meds, malignant hyperthermia, infection control, and sterilization. I think every OR nurse should take the exam. Studying for the exam made me understand better why I am doing what I am doing. I think nurses will be more conscientious of their practices when they know the rationale behind their actions. Good luck on your exam.

Positioning for a prostatectomy is definitely a team effort. We usually use 5 pieces of eggcrate foam for each case. We completely wrap each arm with foam from axilla to 2-3 inches pass the fingers and secure it with 3 pieces of tape. We put a small piece behind each knee on top of the yellow fin, and a special cut one for the chest. The patient is also on a bean bag and after the foam is placed and secured, we use 2 rolls of tape to secure the patient to the bed.

We have the robot for 3+ years and we use it everyday in either urology or thoracic service. We average about 10 cases a week. In Urology, we do mostly prostatectomies and some pyeloplasties. Our 1st robotic prostatectomy took over 8 hours, now we can do 3 cases in a day and be done be 5 p.m. In Thoracic, we use the robot for a lot of our VATS, from mediastinal node dissection to lobectomy to IVOR Lewis Esophagectomy.

We do have a designated staff for the robot because there's a lot of technical things to learn. The staff needs to know where to place the console, robot and the monitors depending on what procedure you are doing. Our OR has 13 rooms and we have 6 nurses and 5 techs trained to use the robot (including day and off shifts). For the first case, it takes us about 45 minutes to set up, and the subsequent cases take much less time because the robot is already all hooked up. All our surgeons went through training before starting the robot, and we have robotic classes for our staff in the OR. I was told that when we first started using the robot for prostates, the case would take 8 hours. Now, we do 3 prostates a day and we are done by 7 p.m.

I considered traveling nursing a while back and learned a lot from nurses who are traveling from this website: http://forums.delphiforums.com/travelnurses Good luck!

I've been doing robotic cases for 1 1/2 years and it's been a great learning experience. We mainly do urology and thoracic cases with the robot and it's a lot to set up for those cases. I do mostly thoracic cases and if there was a robotic prostate the night before, I had to go in extra early to set up the room because their robot/console setup is completely different from ours. What type of cases do you use the robot on? In a typical week, we do about 5-6 prostates and 2-4 VATS. We sometimes do 3 prostates in a day and that can get hectic in between cases because we only have 1 set of instruments. It's always a mad rush to break everthing down and send instruments to be processed for the next case.

I've been in the OR for 5 years and had 2 boys since then. Like MissJoRN said, OR is physically demanding, but it certainly is doable. I am not trying to scare you, but I have only known a handful of nurses who carried their pregnancies to their due dates. A lot of them, and myself included, was on bed rest for one reason or another toward the end of the pregnancies. It's really important to have a great support team at work. I started having contractions at 20 weeks and my OB told me to take it easy and not take any call. I was on the heart team so the call was too much for me to cover. My co-workers were awesome and took turns covering my calls. My manager also made sure I had pee breaks because there are days I had to go every hour. The relief shift always gave me first lunch because they didn't want the baby and I to starve. If OR is where you want to be, go for it! Don't let your baby plans stop you from being an OR nurse.

Where I work, our preference card is our charge sheet, and the preference list comes up with each case cart. It makes it easy for those who pick for the case and those who are in the room to know exactly what each surgeon wants. We also have a designated spot in the front page for notes so nurses/techs who aren't familiar with the surgeons/cases know what they need for the case. (positioning, medication, special instruments, bovie settings ... etc) The preference card is constantly updated, so it's a very useful tool for the staff.

I'm working in a for-profit hospital and we are now saving the "octopus" and "starfish" after each off-pump CABG to be sent back to the manufacturer to be re-sterilized. How common is this practice? Personally, I think it's disgusting. The devices are plastic with grooves, and I just can't imagine how the manufacturer can clean them thoroughly for extra usages.

I was pregnant 2 years ago with my son and I didn't have problems working in the OR. My manager was accommodating in putting me in non-flouro rooms and I was assigned 1st or 2nd lunch instead of 3rd or 4th lunch. The tough part for me during my pregnancy was lifting the heavy instruments and positioning the patients. I changed from working 12 hour shifts to 8 hour shifts during my 2nd trimester and my manager was acommodating to that also.

WOW! That's a high number of nurses witnessing wrong site surgery. At my hospital, we have to do a "time out" before each surgery. Usually the surgeon states the patient's name, type of procedure and site of procedure prior to incision. I have heard that there have been incidences at my hospital years ago, but none recently. The wrong site cases I knew about were neuro cases where patients were in prone positions.

I work in a level 1 trauma hospital and we have 2 RNs and 2 techs scheduled to work every night. On top of that, we usually have 2 RNs, 2 techs, 1 heart and 1 liver on call every night.

The study guideline is on the certification website. I posted the link for you. http://www.certboard.org/cnor/cert/study_group_curr.htm

Try http:http://www.scrubcaps4u.com There's a wide selection of choices and the prices are reasonable. This seller makes the scrub hats for the show "Scrubs" and she posted a few pictures of the cast on the website. The seller accepts PayPal and when you use this option, you get a 6th hat free for every 5 hats you purchase.

I work in a teaching hospital in Philly, and the heart nurses/scrubs get paid $2 and hour for call and 1 1/2 when they get called in. We have enough heart RNs and scrubs that they take call about once every 10 days. However, when they are on call on the weekend, they take 24 hour call. We usually have 4 - 5 other staff on call besides heart call, so we don't call the heart nurses/scrubs to come in for non-heart cases. When a heart RN/scrub is called in in the middle of the night to do a case, and the case goes past 2 a.m., he/she has the option to take the next day off but has to use vacation time to make up the hours. I have worked with a heart RN who has worked 16 hours the previous day on a weekend, and was offered a shorter day the following day so she could go home and rest.

I don't understand why the hospital has decided to replace beepers with cell phones. I know cell phones are not allowed to be used in the ICUs, but it's OK in the OR? It doesn't make any sense. We don't have a place for the docs to leave their pagers/cells. There's a case cart in the room and everyone usually just leave all their pagers/cells on top of the case cart before they go scrub. I'm just going to have start telling the residents to put their phones on vibrate so their phone calls won't be disrupting the room during surgery. However, there's not much I can do about attendings, especially with the transplant service. The transplant coordinator calls all the time regarding possible organs available, then the attending wants all the details about the possible donors. I love my job in the OR but I hate being a secretary.

How do you guys deal with pagers/cell phones in the OR? Our residents/fellows used to have pagers and it's in our unwritten policy manual to answer their pagers for them. Fine, I can deal with that. Recently, our hospital converted the pagers to cell phones instead. So instead of hearing the annoying beeping, the cell phones are going off constantly throughout the case. With the pagers, at least I can turn them off and have the option to answer the page when I have a minute. Now, with the cell phones, I have to stop what I am doing to answer their cells. And every time you answer the phone, the calling party is ALWAYS surprised that so and so is scrubbed. HELLO????? That's what surgeons do! Sorry .... I just have to vent.

I work in a level 1 trauma center and we are staffed 24/day. Here's how we are staffed: Mon-Fri: Nurses generally work 8,10 or 12 hour shifts (7a-3p, 7a-5p, 7a-7p, 11a-11p, 3p-11p and 11p-7a). Techs work mainly 10 hour shifts (7a-5p). There's also relief shift, which is 10:30a-7p for us. On weekends and nights, we are staffed 2 rooms with 6 people on call (usually 2 RNs, 2 techs, 1 heart and 1 liver call) I am on call once every 2 weeks, usually for 4 hours after my 12 hour shift, and I work 1 weekend every 2 months and 1 holiday a year.

My worst mistake ... I work in the OR and occasionally, our patients have local anesthesia for their procedures. I made the mistake of not posting the "Patient is awake" sign on the door while the patient is having a bilateral orchiectomy. One of my friends came to my room to say hi. She looked around to see what case I was doing. Then all of a sudden, she blurted out, "Is it OK for men to live without their balls???" The room got deadly silent and after I whispered to my friend that my patient is awake, she quickly slipped out of the OR.

I work in a big teaching hospital, and I know at least 6 techs I work with who are going to nursing school right now. If OR is where you want to be, it will be great for you start out as a tech if you can't get into nursing school right now. Most hospitals pay for your degree, so that's a great plus for you. Also, most managers are really flexible with the tech's school schedule. We have techs that work only evening shifts, night shifts or every weekend to accomodate school. Most managers will love to hire techs/RN back because they already know the people and system. It might be a longer way for you to reach your goal, but it's do-able and well worth it.

I have 2 of her books (Panic and Intensive Care) and I'm willing to sell them to you at a low cost. Both books are in good condition.

I have much respect for PACU nurses and I know it is a very challenging unit. I chose the OR because I love working there and I can tell you love working in the PACU also. It's unfortunate a lot of nurses from other units have no clue what we do. I get the "How do you breathe under that mask all day long?" or "Don't you get bored doing the same cases every day?" I don't mind educating people about what I do because I didn't now what a circulating or scrub nurse was before I went into the OR. However, I resent those who ask me what my job responsibilites are because they think I sit around all day long.

We have different level calls at my hospital . If I am 1st call, I need to be ready in 30 minutes after I get called in. If I am 2nd call, I get 45 minutes. We also have heart and liver calls and their time frames are a little different, depending on what procedures they are doing and/or when the organs will arrive for transplants.

i definately feel like a scout on the days when i'm trying to track down the pans i hide for later cases that someone else has found and stolen back for their cases. but then that's part of the fun of the or, who is the smartest at finding and hiding the most. i couldn't agree with you more. we have a hiding place for magnetic pads and doppler probes. i've been in the or for 2 1/2 years and i love it. or is like heaven compare to floor nursing, which i have done for 3 + years. i work 1 weekend every 2 months and 1 holiday a year. i'm on call once every 2 weeks, usually for 4 hours after one of my shifts, but i give away my call most of the time. all of us get 45 min lunch break (1 hour on a good day) with breaks in between. yes, i'm losing some of my nursing skills, but i have gained so much more from being in the or. bessie

I work in the Philadelphia region and have been with the same hospital for almost 3 years. My base rate is $26.68/hr and we will be getting a 3.5% increase in August. ($27.61/hr). We get $2/hr for taking call and if we get called in during call, we will still get the $2/hr call time plus 1 1/2 OT.