Dela RN

I don't consider AORN periop 101 "on the job training". I actually did this and I consider it a periop program because although it did involved online modules, they also had classroom teaching (pre-covid), some hands on training before a preceptorship and final exam if I recall correctly. It was nice to get paid to do it and if this is available in your area I would absolutely apply. Where I work, you need to apply for a training position at the hospital who is running this course. They don't just hire a newbie and run the course for that one person if that makes sense? I'm not sure if I'll do this until retirement. I think I'll always keep my foot in the door but who knows what will happen in the future and what other opportunities will open up. I actually can't remember when I started feeling comfortable. Maybe around the 2-3 year mark? It really depends on how often you're working in the environment though? Are you taking up challenges so you get more comfortable or letting others do it? Lots of factors that you can do speed up or slow down your level of comfort if that makes sense.

If this is your dream I would just pay for the preoperative course. It would give you more of a competitive edge compared to others who they would have to train. It shows that you have invested your own money into your training. 10 week program is not enough time for a nurse with no OR experience to feel competent. This can be said about any program since there is continuous learning. 10 weeks gives you the basics and to be better you have to continually do it. It makes sense for the Foothills to require the nurses to have Alberta licenses. I believe they are training staff to work at their hospital. I don't even think that those who get training positions pay for the program instead they are getting paid while they have on site training. I guess you'll have to look into hospital programs where you live and see what their requirements are for working in the OR.

I disagree with this advice to not disclose exposure especially if they are asking. I get the not disclosing you're a nurse in regular circumstances but during a pandemic everyone is trying to protect themselves and their workers. Some members of the public have hidden their covid exposure status when entering the hospital where I work. They answer no to all the screening questions and only after is it discovered that not only have they been around sick contacts but they are now covid positive. This caused a number of health care professionals to be forced into quarantine. I agree with the OP that we are the the most protected with PPE at work but other businesses need to do their due diligence to protect themselves and their own staff. They need protocols in place to deal with patients like us that are not covid positive but have a high exposure risk but still need medical care. What we have done at the hospital I work at when someone needs elective surgery that would be indefinitely postponed since they are considered a high exposure risk (ie. international traveller, works or has close contact with an known outbreak site) is we pre-plan these cases and treat them as they are covid positive so our staff wear full PPE including N95s for their AGMPs. Normally if people screen negative we are not wearing N95s even during AGMPs.

I'm a peds OR nurse and it really depends on the surgery site and length of case but for the most part I'd say they come with their underwear (or diaper) on. If we need to put in a foley, we just remove their underwear and it's usually not an issue. If it's a bigger patient, I have asked them to remove their underwear before they lay on the OR bed, just to make it easier on me later.

So I'm looking into getting a working holiday visa and registering with AHPRA as well. For those of you who have gone through the registration process with AHPRA, I have a question for you. In section I: English language skills requirements where it asks for a certified copy of your academic transcripts, did you get your transcripts certified or were you able use the transcript the institution sent you in one of their sealed envelopes. It just seems strange, for them to want a certified copy when they can have the real thing, sealed from the school. Maybe it's just a canadian school thing where you can request your transcripts come that way...

I'm not surprised about your working conditions and I bet there are a lot of units that are working in similar situations however that does not mean this is the way it's suppose to be. PRC forms should be filled out if patient safety is in question and being understaffed and nurses missing breaks affects pt safety. Are you getting paid for missed breaks? Have you talked to your union about your concerns?

I worked close to full time, lived below/within my means, and directed half of my paychecks towards students loans and any tax refunds towards it and was able to pay off loans with in 2 years

I find that pts can have high/normal oxygen saturation numbers and still have crappy sounding lungs

Best route to get into the OR, if not through your final focus, is to look for postings for positions in the OR where they are willing to train you. I'm not too sure if there will be any in a year when you are done school since for the past couple of years they have been training a ton of students in anticipation of the new hospital opening. This is better than going through Grant McEwan since you would be getting paid and you wouldn't have to pay any course fees.

I think you should just stick to UofL. I went to the UofC for the accelerated program. They have now changed everything so that it is now no longer a 20 month program and it's the 24 month program that you applied to. I don't really know too much about it however from what I heard, there's a bigger focus on community nursing and putting students in community practicums. Apparently some students will not get practicums in maternity or pediatrics anymore. I don't know how accurate this is is. It's mostly just things I've heard. Also they are doing a lot more problem based learning rather than traditional lecturing. I would stay at UofL for the practicums alone.

That sounds about right! Reading alone can be confusing especially if you haven't seen it before so it's hard to mentally picture doing it. When I learned to do a surgical hand scrub (a year ago), we went through/read the AORN periop 101 module, then watched my instructor do it and then she had us do it and she watched us.

Not an experience OR nurse but here's some questions they asked me... 1. Tell me about your past employment and how it's relevant to this position. 2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What were you goals 2 years ago? What are your goals now? 3. Why are you interested in the operating room? Why do you want to be an OR nurse? 4. What kind of communicator are you and give an example of it? 5. Give an example of a confrontation between you and a co-worker, how was the problem solved? 6. What are the roles of the nurses in the OR? 7. What are your strengths and weaknesses? 8. What would your colleagues say about you? 9, How would you set up for a latex allergy? 10. What is the safe surgery checklist? 11. How do you handle stress in your life? 12. How do you handle emergency situations? And give an example. 13. What is family centred care? (I work in a peds OR) 14. Rate how well you are as a scrub and a circulating nurse in these services: eg. Ortho, general, ENT, Neuro, plastics, etc. 15. How do you maintain your education? 16. How would you set up for an emergency craniotomy as a scrub nurse and as a circulating nurse? 17. How do you prepare to scrub/circulate for case you've haven't done? 18. How do you maintain a good work life balance?

Although seeing surgical procedures is definitely one of the bonuses of the job there are other positives about working in the OR. Obviously some of these bonuses depend on the facility that you work at but most OR nurses I work with will generally say it gives you a great work/life balance and less shift work than floor nursing. This is obviously a generalization because there are exceptions but for the most part scheduled cases do occur through out the week during daytime hours. Other things I like about the OR is the unique team environment. It's actually pretty cool when you think about how all the people in the room are completely dedicated to that one patient in the room. The anesthesiologist, surgeon, respiratory therapist, residents and nurses. As a floor nurse I found the interaction with doctors pretty limiting. They didn't seem to know me (except as the nurse) and they were always in and out. It seemed really segregated to me so it's pretty neat to have everyone in the OR be on the same team. I still work on a med/surg floor and I found that some of the skills I have obtained from the OR are helpful on the floor. Besides the technical skills that you get a ton of experience in like IV starts, catheters, you also get a better understanding of how things work. Before the OR I always thought that a central line was the answer to all difficult IV starts and long term IV use but now I see that sometimes CVCs can be difficult to place and complications do occur.Basically they weren't as simple as I once thought. You get to use all sorts of drains, learn how to better position patients and actually get real hands on experience holding a bag valve mask that isn't in a code situation or isn't a mannequin in CPR class. It may seem easy but more than one anesthesiologist has said holding a bag-valve masks is a practiced skill. If you continue working goon the floor it's pretty neat to see patients on the floor pre-op, see them in surgery and then see them post op on the floor too! Honestly the OR isn't for everyone just like how LTC isn't for everyone either. One of the posters here said it best when she said that, that's the great thing about nursing, there's many different places a nurse can go. I've had boring days in the OR... eye surgery isn't my favourite but that's why it's nice that I'm on OR nurses and not just an eye surgery nurse. I get to do ortho, general, urology, ENT, plastics, neuro, etc. I guess I can compare it to floor nursing when I get a patient assignment that is "boring" but at least you won't have that same pt assignment forever.

So basically LPNs don't have "x" days or designated days off where you would be first on the list to be offered double time to come in if the need for nurses arises on the floor? So UNE get treated like a staff member who have their own patients and their own shifts even though they can't do everything? Seems like a waste of resources that will increase burn out. They should not be given any LPN or RN shifts. Their shifts should be their own and in addition to the nurses who already have to work... I don't think this is an AUPE issue though. Umm not exactly true?? I know I have been asked to work a shift I haven't picked up for straight time before. Scheduling has a list they are suppose to go through. If everyone says no to straight time and the unit still needs people than it might go to overtime. I'm a RN and I definitely don't always get OT for shifts that I didn't voluntarily pick up. Maybe it depends on where the workplace??

Do LPNs not get paid OT anymore? When did this happen? What's the issue with UNE's that you would like fixed?