ianurse0509

All of our inguinal hernias are done by general surgeons. Also, most of our procedures are not done laproscopic and are still done outpatient.

I'm a Circulating RN in the OR and we start IV's quite frequently. Especially in pediatric cases where anethesia is masking the patient. We also may start them if two IV's are necessary, anethesia starting one on one side and us starting one on the other. We almost always have an OR Tech in the room with us as 2nd circulator. They are wonderful. The knowledge that they have regarding anticipation of the scrubs needs is greatly needed. However, any of my techs will admit that they do not have the education to do assessments or notice if there is a problem going on. They have the basic education which focused mainly on the anatomy of the body and the instruments they'll scrub with. With the exception of a scrub who was a previous CNA, they don't understand many disease processes, effects of medication, F&E balances, ect. I think these are really important things for the circulator to understand.

You're lucky you got one on one with a mentor. I've had several different nurses and even scrub techs mentoring me. Unfortunately you are told to do something one way by one person and then criticized for doing it that way by the next person you work with. It makes it really hard to learn how to do something correctly when everytime you learn to do something you're told to do it a different way. We also have the see one, do one, teach one theory in our OR. We had a new computer system roll out and I was the one with the most computer knowledge, so I got to go to a class to learn the new system. I saw it, I practiced it, than I had to teach it to the others on the unit. I like to see something a few times before I have to do it, than do it a few times (or more) before I have to teach it.

Thanks to everyone for your advice. I did sit down with my manager and told her I was not happy with the way things were going. I told her that I know she feels comfortable with me being alone in a room, but I did not feel comfortable and that's what matters. For now they aren't leaving me alone. I still have to take 2nd scrub call, but there letting me scrub a few more cases before I start taking it. We'll see where this goes.....

I'm a new nurse (just graduated 06/2005). When I was originally hired in the OR I was told I would have a 12 month orientation, then it was bumped to 9 months. Well, the other day they had a staff meeting without me (I was in ACLS) and they decided a way to solve some of the staffing issues would be to let me start taking rooms on my own and taking call as second scrub. Keep in mind I have been in the OR for just 4 mo. now. I have two issues with this: first, I do not feel comfortable being in a room on my own. I do not know if I could troubleshoot some of the machines and really don't know cases well enough to anticipate my scrub's needs off the field. (I circulate 99% of the time). I know the routine of things, but I'm still not always sure why I'm passing certain things onto the field. I feel you really have to get the "whole" picture of what is going on on the field to be able to anticipate. I know this comes with experience, but I really don't feel comfortable just passing an instrument or suture onto the field without understanding what they are going to use it for. Also, I would like to be able anticipate when a laproscopic case looks like it might go open so I can be prepared. Second, in regards to the second scrub call issue, I have only scrubbed a total of 9 cases (2 of them were as a student, 4 were just observing and 3 I was actually first scrub). Most of the cases I have scrubbed in for were small 20 minute cases that probably aren't the type of cases we're going to be called in for. Plus I have never been second scrub and the only time I've held a retractor is for two minutes during a back case. I addressed this issue with my manager, who first tried to tell me anyone could hold retractors, than agreed to let me scrub as second scrub for a few cases before I have to take call. My question is has anyone else experienced anything like this? I really feel like I'm being cheated out of my orientation. Does anyone have any suggestions?