bkleja

We use a numerical scale of 0 - 10 for adults and on ped's it's either a visual scale with smile/frown faces or a 0 - 5 scale, depending on their age. We don't have a bloating scale - I guess I consider that as part of their pain and comment as needed. Our patients come out of their procedures on their left side and we leave them in that position until they pass flatus, or, if none passes after 30 min or so we start flipping them side to side every 10 - 15 minutes. That usually does the trick. I don't like colons to sit up until flatus passes - it's harder to pass that way in my experience. Don't know any specific research to back that up.

We get $3.00/hr while on beeper, time and a half for hours actually worked and we get paid for an additional hour beyond those worked which is considered travel time. We also are paid for a minimum of 4 hours when called in, even if we are only there for 1 hour. Madison, WI

I work in an endoscopy unit in Wisconsin. We have been going around and around on the issue of needing drivers for any patient being sedated. Although our instructions clearly state that this is needed, there's always those few who insist that there is no one in the world who they can call. We had been allowing these folks to take a cab after we kept them a little longer in recovery but, we really need to turn over our beds - besides, we use fentanyl and versed and the half life is many hours so we're not really helping by keeping them 1 hour extra. Do you tell these people who have prepped for a colonoscopy that they'll have to reschedule unless they come up with a driver in the next 15 minutes? We feel like we have to clamp down for safety's sake. we do follow-up calls the day after our scopes and there are maybe 2-5% who have little recollection of the day after they left us; one even blamed us when he took a cab and over-tipped the driver since he wasn't thinking straight. Then there's those who want to meet their driver at the door which gives them the chance to sneak off to their own car! How strict are your policies on driving?