BoTnut

Good to read about preference cards/fad books and how we all end up the same but different approaches. Where I work we have migrated from the "Floppy disc" (last century!) to the USB stick. Eventually it will be totally computerised I guess. Each surgeon has a printout of all their operations in their fad book and it regularly gets updated (monthly). It does pay to have this "old fashioned" method especially if you have new grads or new to theatre people arriving enmasse. Sometimes the simple things work the best - as us old scrubbers know! BoTnut:nurse:

Just reading through a few of the comments is giving me ideas for next year. So thanks for that all of you. We're a tad behind with the "celebrate all week" thing in my part of the world but something we could work on cultivating I am sure. We start our celebrations with Midwives day on 5th May and then International Nurses Day 12th May. So think of us Nurses "down under" on Thursday 4th if you are in the Northern Hemisphere reading this. this is a fantastic forum for us all and one that although I don't regularly answer on I find encourging. I'd never get any work done if I spent all day and night on the computer. So, to all my international nursing colleagues, keep doing the best nursing and be proud to be a nurse. BoTnut

I go along with having a pocket book too. Don't worry about the comments or funny looks - they may be stuck in quagmire of their own making and apathetic as to how to get out. People who are new to OR come in with fresh eyes and ideas. I fully understand about keeping preference (fad) books up to date - I took on this challenge and have been thanked by so many staff as well as Dr's!!! especially the Registrars (Attendings if you're in the US) Our Registrars often change hospitals 6 or 12 monthly so it's a good way to ensure everyone is at the same place going the same way. Sometimes I think experienced OR Nurses have forgotten what it was like to be a beginner. Keep going as it will get easier. :welcome:

We still use the hand written one and it is my job along with my Charge Nurse to maintain the acurateness of them. I recently updated the Registrars folder and made that a KISS one. Operation (in a plastic sleeve) on one side in an A4 folder and on the opposite side a list of the registrars and the list of glove size and peculiarities. The front page has the name of all registrars and their contact ph number 9if they have their own cell phone. Pretty simple but it seems to work. The most difficult bit is maintaining the Consultants' fad books - never enough time even though there are 2 of us responsible for it. The books/pages are altered as required but updating does take a while. Hope that's useful for you. It was a nice little project for me to do my levelling and most appreciated by my colleagues who were envious that it was so simple and so effective. The registrars like it too. Most of our consultants used to be registrars at my hospital so they were already familiar with what we did. Botnut.

I live 30 mins driving from my hospital and it doesn't pose a problem. I am on call an average of 2 nights per week and maybe part of a weekend if working it. I always tell the next shift that I am 30 mins away. Sometimes I get called more often I don't. I hope I'm not jinxing something here tho! My suggestion, if it seems like a good job and everything stacks up go for it. Good luck.

Not too good at doing the graphics but could have a picture of the world with the words "If you're "up over" or "down under" we're on-2-it @ allnurses.com" There are some great ideas and I have had a good laugh or two which has been fantastic for that endorphine release we all need from time to time!!

Age should never be a barrier! You are as young/old as you feel. Somedays you will feel is it worth it and other days you'll be saying, I'm glad I made the change. Go for it, you only live life once so make the change.

Welcome, new to the OR, you're going to love it if you can get over the first 6 months. Some good advice a surgeon gave to his registrars/interns years ago (yes, some of them do give out good advice) was " to search out the LPN/EN who has been there the longest and ask them for information. Generally they will tell you everything you want to know, but you have to ask them nicely!!!" As for shoes, I would recommend a visit to Orthotics and get measured for insoles. Although expensive initially, your feet will love you for it. Also, if you are prone to VV's from a lot of standing I would recommend stockings but get the ones for walking not the horizontal ones. I've been in the OR almost a 1/4 century (not quite a dinasaur) and I learn something new almost everyday. Certainly in the last 3 days I have. Good luck and get back to us when you feel like it.

With some of the responses I am wondering how big your OR rooms are and what type of surgery you do? I am picturing our OR room when it is packed with equipment, people and the patient (I know Patient should always be first!) and I can't imagine space for laying out a half drape etc. Anyway, we use a bucket system and it works, similar to Nurse ellie. I rather like the idea of the disposable hanging bags but I can't see us being able to buy them as (funny) they cost money. In this time of do everything right I am surprised we aren't "on to it" with the bags though. At least we don't have those awful swab racks that were the very devil to clean .....!!! I am sure there are Theatre nurses out there who remember those times. I think this is a great site and I just love reading what you all write about. Funny that we all seem to have similar problems and it doesn't matter what part of the world we are in! Maybe we can come up with global solutions to age old problems?