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.:)

I had a friend who worked in Mount Sinai's ER for two years before she moved to the US. She really liked it there. Mt Sinai is just one of several teaching hospitals in Toronto. I'm sure Mount Sinai has a website, just do a search under Google. I left Toronto 4 yrs ago and back then only a couple of hospitals were offering $$ incentives to recruit nurses, i.e., relocation assistance. Hopefully that situation has changed in the time I've left. And as Suzanne mentioned, be sure to check out the website for the College of Nurses of Ontario....http://www.cno.org All the best in your search

Please explain further, I'm interested in what you have to say.

Congratulations to your friend...had she tried to get a job there back in the 90s she wouldn't have been so lucky. Apparently they've learned they can't be picky with a nursing shortage now, too bad they had to learn this the hard way.

Anyone else ever feel this way or am I just the oddball in this bunch? I'd been in the market to change jobs for the past year. The right time finally came for me to find me another job and so I was offered a postion elsewhere last month (if you want to know details on why, check out my posts on 'cast scheduling' and 'staff turnover rates' to get an idea). I handed in my two week notice two Fridays ago and I've been doing my own little countdown ever since. Today was my last day at work and I've been on a buzz all day, from the moment I woke up until now. The last time I felt this good was my first day at work, no joke. There's something so liberating about your last day at work, especially a place where you've been wanting to get out and having something new waiting for you to start. Nothing and nobody was able to change my mood today, heck, I'll probably stay this way until next week when I finish hospital orientation (my first day at the new place is the tues after Labor Day). I just needed to tell/gloat/boast to everyone,that's the sole purpose of this post!!:balloons:

UHN= University Hospital Network. UHN is made up of the 'old' Toronto General Hospital(aka The Toronto Hospital), Princess Margaret Hospital and Toronto Western Hospital. Those three hospitals merged together in the past 10 yrs, basically because they were forced to by the government. And you're right, the hospial could've told the nurses to go back to school but they obviously couldn't wait for their nurses to do that...I guess that's what happens when nursing unions aren't present in a hospital :angryfire

Where I work, you're paid $2/hr if you're on call (aka, carry the pager). Now, if you get called in, then you get paid time and a half for a minimum of three hours. So if you get called in for an emerg cysto case and it's less than 3 hrs, you will get paid for the full three hours. And that's the case for 11p-7a during the week, weekends and holidays.

I worked at Sunnybrook for 1 1/2 yrs before I got married and moved to the U.S. Although I worked hard there, I liked where I worked, and I have a friend who worked at UHN for a couple of years before she moved south. She kinda liked it. If you want a unonized hospital, then don't go to Sick Kids. I still remember when they laid off veteran nurses years ago because they didn't have their BSNs...dumb.

I say go for Austin. I live in the Dallas area, and while I like it here I certainly don't love it. At the same time, it really depends on what you're looking for. If you're an active person who likes the outdoors, Austin is the best of the three cities, it's a cool city. It's scenic with lots of lakes and things to do. It's also a big college-town. I've been in Dallas for 3 1/2 yrs and days can go by before I see someone walking/biking/jogging. If you're looking for a city with a vibrant downtown/nightlife, you're best bet is Houston and Austin hands down (Dallas doesn't have a downtown:angryfire). Houston revitalized parts of their downtown just in time for the Superbowl and made it better. If you're looking for weather, then you might as well forget all 3 cities all together. And if you're looking in terms of people, then I'd say Austin or Houston. Dallasites overall are known for being aloof, indifferent and pretentious. There's a nursing shortage everywhere so there's no lack of job opportunities in any of those cities, regardless of what specialty you're looking into. I don't know if you're looking at teaching vs. nonteaching hospitals, but I wouldn't particularly recommend any of the ones in Dallas, I'll leave it at that...

Funny that this thread is being posted...our two angio suites finished being renovated a couple of weeks ago and they're say they're going to start redoing our two lap rooms after JCHAO visits. From what I've been told, the suites are supposed to have surround sound plus a 'desk' for the circulator where the Bovie/light source/insufflation/Autosonix/Argon can be controlled at the desk without having to actually walk to the tower to adjust settings. We already have the video tower which holds the camera/insufflation/light source/VCR/printer but those things are a pain in the orifice to move, plus our slave monitor won't stop drifting. I won't get to see them renovate cuz' my last day there is next Fri, but I'll be sure to get updates on the construction...As for my perfect OR, I'd have the above plus no cords on the floor and cabinets stocked with linens/padding/supplies. I'd also have a bed that can handle patients over 700lbs, and anesthesia machines that have been selected, approved by the anesthesia group and isn't to troubleshoot.

It's funny, for all the complaints I've had about where I work, our anesthesiologists hasn't been a factor in those complaints. If anything, we have a couple who tend to be needy, a few whose judgements we tend to question, and frankly, one whom management loves 'cuz he 'helps' them make us run our a**es off. But for the most part, I work with a great group of MDAs, and I didn't realize it until I read this post. Just as there are surgeons who aren't 'the cream of the crop', the same applies to anesthesiologists.