jkw813

I recently left Medical ICU and began working in an Open Heart Recovery Room. I also wanted something less physically demanding and that I could see myself doing more long-term. My back would hurt almost every day after I left work, but since I've started in OHRR I have had no problems whatsoever! The only type of transfer that we do with our patients is helping them stand up (while another nurse moves their bed and puts a chair behind them) to sit in a chair the morning after surgery. The patients are able to do most of the work themselves, because they have to be healthy enough to even be a candidate for surgery. The OR staff gets the bed and puts the patient on it after surgery, so they are already on their bed when we get them. We roll them of course to wash their backs and turn them, but again, no morbidly obese or bedridden patients because those patients aren't surgery candidates. You still get the critical care aspect because they are usually on about 8-10 drips when they come out, you have a swan, an arterial line, chest tubes, and the ventilator. We wean and extubate them after surgery and the next day they get to start eating, we pull one of their chest tubes, take out the cordis, art line, foley, and then transfer them to the Cardiac Stepdown floor! It's such a quick turnaround and it's very rewarding. If your hospital does CVT surgery you should definitely look into a move to OHRR!