heather42r

Thank you so much for this. They won't give me a standing order for anything other than "follow bottle instructions". I've asked.

Thanks, I don't think I was clear. It's not for a specific kid .. it's in our OTC stock meds. I would absolutely follow a Dr. note for it if one came in, but I was thinking for the kids that come to the infirm with belly pain, bloating and no poop for 5 days or whatnot. Last year the camp "nurse" (she was a new grad vet tech)" gave out miralax, and while looking at the bottle, I saw the age restriction, so told them I am not giving it out at all unless a 17 year old comes in, but was curious what you all do with the younger kids that are constipated. I did find some laxative tablets/liquid that are safe for 2 and up since posting, but I'm still interested to know what other places do.

What does your camp do with miralax? Bottle says for ages 17 and up; 16 and under see physician. Orders from county health say that OTC meds can be administered per bottle directions". Parents have it as an option to check it off yes/no on OTC med list. What do you do with these OTC meds that have an age limit?

GREAT information, thank you so much!! Looks like I'm in the clear. I'm in a "room for improvement" state!

What have you got to lose if you don't try? You are not nuts. Edited to add. I am also a single mom of a 10 year old girl and just be warned, the schedule can be brutal. Make sure you have excellent sitters available or your child's father (my ex is not involved so I've pretty much had to find her a second family but they are amazing). Can be long hours with call.

I work in a float pool for a couple surgery centers. A new place I went to is super super short staffed and had 7 cases today; one OR. I was expecting no lunch due to schedule. Fine, whatever. However, someone came in to relieve me for lunch but it was a scrub tech. The surgeon told me to leave to eat; that he'd be OK...I ate as fast as I could because was starving. There are 3 RNs working currently. One was pre/oping a patient and one was in PACU. I'm a little new to the surgery center lifestyle as I've mainly worked hospital and this would never fly in a hospital. She didn't do any paper work or hand out meds; just wrote down what screws they used. I don't know how I feel about this. I do know that I feel hungry after what is usually an 11 hour shift without a break. There is a DON/manager but she was busy and the Pre/PACU manager RN called in. I feel like this is wrong. I'm not really in a place to make demands or changes. They were just bought out by the company I work for and are very used to doing their own thing. The other RNs told me this is what happens if you want to eat somedays.

I did get in trouble during orientation for a left handed moment. The anesthesiologist made a complaint that I was standing on the left side of the patient during intubation so my manager put me on an additional week or orientation!! I'm not sure what the problem was. She never said anything to me about it; just complained to my manager.

Our call shifts are 1715 - 2345 and 2345 - 0645 M-F. Sat/Sun they are 0700 - 1900 and 1900 - 0645. They take as much call as needed to cover all shifts. Extremely short staffed right now so I think people are taking at least 9 call shifts in a month for RNs. I'm per diem so I'm not required to take any call since we are not paid time and a half for call like core staff is. I still take a shift or two if someone calls in but I don't have to. Edited to add: I don't know of any max shifts of call one can take. I've never heard of that.

Shoes are one thing but get yourself some compression socks for whatever shoes you end up with. I like the sockwell socks (amazon, sockwell, some actual stores) and wear the 20-30mmHg compression. My legs feel tired and heavy wearing normal socks after a shift. Those socks last a long time; worth every penny.

I always get my own patients. We have to verify name/DOB, the consent, allergies, etc...I would be very uncomfortable getting a patient without a trip to pre-op. I have had anesthesiologists try to take them first and I always ask for a minute. I do try to go talk to them as soon as I drop my patient off in PACU before they've had their block and/or sedation so they are a/o as much as possible depending on circumstance. Trauma? Different story. Get them back ASAP.

Great article! I was racking my brain trying to think of anybody else and all I could come up with was neuromonitoring for some of our spine cases! It's crowded in there sometimes isn't it!?

Thanks for everything! I've done general, urology, c-sections, gynecology, spines, ortho, podiatry, ENT, eyes, bariatric plastics, wounds, dental and minimal neuro. We have a special neuro team, as well as a dedicated heart team so I've never been near a heart. We don't specialize other than that; they want us able to do everything which is kind of nice. Gives a good variety to the day! We don't get a lot of trauma but I've had one gun shot patient and I've been around for a car crash but only as an observer. I was just curious about the call only because ours don't take it. I'm not opposed to call! Thanks for the advice! (and the tax advice. my goodness, I had no idea and you are right. I don't understand everything you've said!!!)

I think I get what you meant - we have a nurse who is famous for coming into your room during your case and moving EVERYTHING around, or putting all the pieces of paper at a 90 degree angle or whatever. On the other hand she is incredibly thorough in whatever she is doing and never misses anything because her attention to detail is so amazing. I like her best though when she is OUTSIDE MY ROOM!!!!

Hi, I'm an OR nurse and been working about 2.5 years now. My hospital does not allow RNs to scrub so I have zero experience in that. I'm looking into traveling as well as other things but have a few questions. 1. Is 2.5 years enough experience for OR traveling? I have experience with different services (minus hearts/robotics as we have separate teams for that) but my hospital is smallish and we don't have a lot of volume. That's part of the reason I want to leave. It's rather boring at work. I'm lucky if I do two cases somedays. 2. What are the chances of getting a contract for longer than 13 weeks? I worked with one traveling surgical tech who was at my hospital for THREE YEARS as a traveler!! Is that possible for a nurse?? 3. Is it possible to be a traveler and not work certain times of the year? 4. What are your experiences with call for travelers? None of our travelers take call. My questions are all over the place as I'm trying to work through some living situation issues and I'm sorry, they do contradict each other but any help I can get is appreciated!

What job do you guys work that allows you to have summers off? I think camp nursing sounds awesome but I can not figure out what jobs either give that much pto for weeks off in summer or are you all school nurses?