ShirleyM

I don't know if this topic has been brought up on this board... How do you handle holiday call where you work? Do you sign up for holidays or does it go by seniority? We're trying to figure out how to assign holiday call for 2007. In past years we gave our first,second and third choice for holiday. This year we're going to try a different method. Thanks for responding...Shirley

I worked at Zale Lipshy for 3 yrs, including the first 8 months that St.Paul and Zale went under the UTSW umbrella. I did Zale's O.R internship program and worked 2 yrs afterwards. Which internship are you looking at?

I was also at the Dallas show (section 116) and I was delighted to hear him give kudos to nurses. If you haven't been to a U2 show, I encourage you to go, it's an experience you will never forget (this was my 3rd). Since Day One, U2 has always been involved and have written songs on social issues (Pride,MLK,Sunday Bloody Sunday,Peace on Earth,Walk On,Please,etc..) they've been doing that long before it was fashionable for musicians/celebs to do so. Shortly after they got married, Bono and his wife spent time helping out in Bosnian refugee camps. His wife heads a foundation for the children of Chernobyl and he has been key with his DATA organization getting first world countries to pardon the debts owed by third world countries. The ONE project, also headed by him, is about getting rid of extreme poverty worldwide. He single handedly has done more to better peoples lives in a short time than what most celebs do in a lifetime. He is one of the few musicians who walks the walk and talks the talk. He helps others long after the media exposure, most celebs lend a hand 'cuz they know the media is there. As far as their relationship with the US goes, the band has always had a 'love-hate' relationship ever since they first hit US soil some 25 yrs ago. They love their American fans and the concept of the American Dream, but there are some things about the US that they can do without. They are certainly entitled to their opinion and I happen to agree with them.

Usually trauma centers have ORs that run 24/7, including holidays,nights and weekends...you can scroll down the topics for a thread on night/evening crew for more info(I started that one). Where I work we have 1 room open two Saturdays each month just to do elective ESWLs, usually they go from 7am-10am. It usually depends on how many ESWLs they have on schedule. Those ESWLs are staffed by people who volunteer to do them, it isn't part of call. Our call team is for emergencies.

Just curious... What's your policy regarding students observing in the OR? By students I mean high school students who are interested in pursuing health care professions. Our patients must give written consent for any kind of student to observe surgery so that isn't an issue. Even if the patient gives consent for observers, I still use discretion as to whether I allow observers in my room. If I have GYN cases in my room, I don't allow any student observers during those cases. Aside from GYN, are there any other procedures you would prohibit high school students from observing? Thank to all for your input....

For the record, AORN is and has been adamant that the circulator be a RN. They feel so strongly about this that they have been instrumental in a couple of states (Texas is one of them) passing bills that the circulator in every OR room be a RN.

I'm impressed, it sounds like you've really done your homework! Let me just say this...Toronto is a great city to live in. Make good use of the time your're there, there are lots to do and see. One of the great things about Toronto is its transit system. You can literally travel from the west end of the city to the east end for one fee...when I was there it was $2 for adults. Having said that, all the colleges and universities you mentioned are accessible by transit, except Georgian college, Univ New Brunswick and Seneca's nursing program. Centennial college is in Scarborough(east end of the city), Ryerson and George Brown are both downtown, like less than 5 subway stations north/south of each other...you could walk from one school to the other if you wanted to. Humber is in Etobicoke (west end of the city). I can tell you for a fact that if you're going to live near Finch subway station, then York University is the closest university to you. The area around Finch station up to Steeles Ave is Toronto (old name: North York). Steeles Ave is basically the border between Toronto and York Region. York University is in North York. Toronto has a great subway system, and there are at least two bus routes (from early am to around 9pm) that starts at Finch station and goes straight to York University(travels north on Yonge Street, then takes a left turn to go west on Steeles Ave). I was born and raised in North Toronto, I left in 2001 and that was the bus route at the time. Be aware though, to give yourself plenty of travel time, because that bus could end up stopping at EVERY bus stop, depending on time of day, etc... do a google search for TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) and hopefully they'll have a website that can give you more info. I don't know anything about Georgian College, but I went to Seneca College for my nursing diploma (class of 2000). My class was the first class that started the Seneca-York U collaborative. We had the option of doing our last two years in York U and finishing with a BScN. I elected to finish with my diploma but I can tell you that although Seneca's nursing program is way north of Toronto, we had a shuttle bus that picked us up like once a day from certain intersections of the city and took us to Seneca's campus. Having said that, the closest Seneca bus stop to you will be Yonge/Steeles(that's how it was for me 5 yrs ago). I'd advise you contact the King City campus at Seneca College for more info...again do a google search for Seneca College and narrow it down for King City Campus. Seneca's program is okay, but I did my LVN equivalent program at Humber and I enjoyed it. Humber's nursing program is a bit more strict though, in some ways I feel like I got more out of Humber than I did at Seneca....though I can't put a finger on it as to why. Univ of Toronto had a RN-BSN program but they cancelled it back in the early-mid 90s because there was little to no interest nor enrollment in their program. If I were you I'd still do a search under Univ of Toronto, perhaps the issue of RNs graduating with a BScN changed things there. I'd research the above schools more for requirements...do you already have a bachelor's degress in something else? In that case you might be in a different situation then. Best of luck to you, sorry for rambling on...

Where I used to work, the only ICU patients that would be in pre-op holding were patients not on ventilators or on drips like Propofol. The place where I'm at now have all their ICU patients go from ICU straight to the OR. The surgical team goes to ICU for their pre-op interview/assessment and then take the patient to the OR.

I don't know how far Chapel is from Raleigh-Durham is, but Duke and University of North Carolina are in Chapel Hill. Good luck...

Have you checked out patterns by Mc Call? I had a pattern for scrub hats but I recently gave it to a former co-worker. I can't remember if the pattern I bought was for elastic all-round or the ones with the band on the forehead but you can check out Wal-mart' s fabric section, that's what I did.

They definitely have RN-BSN programs in Ontario, it just depends on where in Ontario you plan to live in. FYI, before this year, the College of Nurses of Ontario(the licensing body for nurses in Ontario) recognized nursing diplomas and nursing degrees. Now they only recognize degrees from nurses entering the profession as of this year. The good thing about doing a RN-BSN program in Ontario is that most of the schools require an Ontario RN license and a certain GPA for admission. You might want to contact the College of Nurses of Ontario (www.cno.org) to see if you'd be able to write their licensure exam with an ADN. Also, you might want to do a search for RN-BSN programs and call those schools for more info on their RN-BSN programs.

Thank you to all who posted encouragement and well wishes on my new job. I started orientation last week and will be on O.R orientation for at least the next couple of weeks. Right now it's tough because the one thing they do the most here is probably the one thing I did the least at the old job...ortho. At the old place I did ortho like once every 4-6 mos, more like 6 ms. It's also jarring in that I'm so used to the routine that I've been in for the past 3 yrs and now I have to change all that. On top of that this new place as computerized charting (MEDI-TECH), and I'm finding that the charting is taking up a good chunk of time. The people here are nice and management seems fair. Even though I'm finding little 'things' about the new place, they still don't compare to the environment at the old job.

I can't help but feel disgusted,surprised and relieved at the same time. Disgusted because it took involvement with a 'higher-up' for consequences. And, what does that say about how nurses are viewed and valued? It's okay to behave badly to nurses but not with non-nurses!? I'm surprised that this MD was actually brazen and bold enough to act this way. Some docs have the 'Jekyll and Hyde' behavior..proper and congenial with patients and Admin, then all mean and nasty to staff. But it sounds like this guy was Mr Hyde to all the way around. I'm relieved for you and your co-workers that he will finally be put in his place, albeit a little too long in the making.

Toronto has some good hospitals but since you're asking about hospitals with the greatest respect and opportunities for RNs...I'm hard pressed to give you names. I left Toronto in late 2001 but when I left, sign on bonuses, referral bonuses and tuition reimbursement were non-existent, relocation assistance was offered by only one hospital there and retirement options weren't mentioned. Plus I've heard they haven't gotten raises in a couple of years (since 2001) .I'd like to think that things have changed though. On the flipside, when I was there there were a lot of nurses going back to school to get their BSNs and several hospitals were encouraging them, by way of flexible scheduling and so on. Hospitals up there also encourage getting involved by way of committees, etc...Plus, most of the hospitals in Toronto are unionized, which is a big plus. I'd recommend going to a teaching hospital (Sunnybrook/Mt Sinai/UHN/St Michaels), you'll learn so much and plus you'll get to use more of your skills (i.e, giving blood, central lines, PCAs, NG insertion, complex wound care etc...). In short, hospitals in the US give more opportunities to RNs $$-wise, but I have yet to hear of a hospital in either the US or Canada that gives respect to RNs in word and in action. Lots of hospitals say they value RNs but I have yet to hear of one who actually backs it up with action.

wait a minute....i thought the whole idea of computer charting was to eliminate paper work? leave it to the higher-ups to find a way of occupying our time with yet more documentation. of course, they could take a clue from my old workplace and actually put the nursing diagnosis/nursing interventions/nursing outcomes all into the or record...of course, it'll stretch out to 3 pages but hey, at least it'll already be in the or record when you chart.:)