Questions

I've never known what my pay rate is in my 37 year nursing career...can't help you there.

Endoscopy centers are very fast paced....to be blunt it's like an assembly line...move em in....move em out.

I don't know if you will be in the procedure room? If they uses nurses for moderate sedation, or you'd be "assisting" the anesthesiologist, gastroenterologist and tech. Or if they might even use RN's as techs, (I doubt that).

You might be in admit only, you might be in PACU only, or you might float between both, and even float into the procedure room.

You'd need to be good with IV's if your admit.

Both admit and PACU, I repeat, are very fast paced. It is not the time for a nursing head to toe assessment, rarely, if ever, listen to heart and lungs, even in PACU.

I don't know what will make you shine? Being confident with IV's...being comfortable with less focus on nursing assessments than on moving them in and out?

ACLS may be, should be, required.

Knowing how to do moderate sedation.

The job environment can be stressful if the gastroenterologitst are rude, or the very fast pace stresses the staff. But I've always enjoyed GI nursing.

Thank you for your quick reply brownbook! I’m used to the fast pace after working in the ER, and the ASC. I’m the ASC our docs were scheduled with procedures every 15 min and we had to get them in and out (very much like an assembly line lol). I do have my ACLS as it has always been required for any of my past jobs. I have some tons of moderate sedation in my years as an ER RN, but it sounds like this particular center uses CRNA’s and she specifically said the RNs no longer sedate. And nobody can be as rude as the last MD I worked with lol!

You sound perfect....just use a lot of Pledge and you will shine ?.

If they ask why endoscopy ????? You like the fast pace, like to keep busy, like more "regular" hours. (It is almost the exact same as ASC.)

Pledge....got it ?! Thanks so much for your replies!

I work in an outpatient endoscopy clinic. What struck me about brownbrook's reply was about techs in the procedure room. Is it common to have a tech and the room? We never use techs in the room and don't have any need for them. For us it's the GI doc, the CRNA and an RN. What exactly is a tech needed for during the procedure? Sorry to hijack the original post.

A tech in the GI room is exactly like a tech in an OR. Knows all the equipment the surgeon might need and I ready to hand them to the surgeon.

I only floated to GI nursing....the tech set up the scope, connected it up to the cart, entered the patient info, got the hot/cold forceps, snares, traps, balloons, per the gastroenterologists requests, checked the suction. Opens and closes the forceps, snares, etc.

Honestly I should know more what a tech does, I wish I knew more about the equipment. I am sure there are a myriad of things I am leaving out. My lame excuse is I only floated.

So in your experience a nurse does all this? But who notes the site of specimens and labels the specimen jars? The nurse? So the doctor get his own snares, hot forceps, etc. whatever is needed?

I am very confused.

We have anesthesiologists or CRNA, RN, GI tech, and GI doc in every room. The RN charts, handles specimens, pulls supplies, assists with monitoring pt (suctioning airway if anesthesia has hands full, etc). The tech sets up scope, uses the tools (opening/closing forceps, stripping wires for ercps). I feel that we all work as a team, and we’re short techs so us nurses have to tech regularly. I love how endo gives you the pt/family interaction in preop and recovery and the OR feel being in the procedure room, best of both worlds.

Where I work, a tech runs the cleaning of scopes, sterilizing, etc and also hangs the scopes. Otherwise, we (RNs) get the snares, forceps, argon, dilators, or whatever, and we do the opening and closing. We're an outpatient center so we don't do anything but EGDs and colonoscopies. Everything we need is in easy reach. It works fine for us so that's why I was confused and didn't see why a tech would be needed. In a hospital setting, I can see why it might be more important to have a tech in the room.

3 minutes ago, beckyboo1 said:

Where I work, a tech runs the cleaning of scopes, sterilizing, etc and also hangs the scopes. Otherwise, we (RNs) get the snares, forceps, argon, dilators, or whatever, and we do the opening and closing. We're an outpatient center so we don't do anything but EGDs and colonoscopies. Everything we need is in easy reach. It works fine for us so that's why I was confused and didn't see why a tech would be needed. In a hospital setting, I can see why it might be more important to have a tech in the room.

Are you, the nurse, able to keep up with noting the location of the specimens. If several, or many, specimens are taken, who records or remembers where each one was taken from?

Yes, of course. I use a sharpie marker to mark the top of the specimen container so i can remember the site, then mark on the chux under it whether it was cold biopsy, cold or hot snare etc. I then use hash marks to keep track of how many. If time allows, I immediately chart these things so that at the end of the case all I have to do is print the labels and tidy up. It really isn't difficult, even when we remove 13 polyps, as we did from a patient yesterday lol

5 hours ago, beckyboo1 said:

Yes, of course. I use a sharpie marker to mark the top of the specimen container so i can remember the site, then mark on the chux under it whether it was cold biopsy, cold or hot snare etc. I then use hash marks to keep track of how many. If time allows, I immediately chart these things so that at the end of the case all I have to do is print the labels and tidy up. It really isn't difficult, even when we remove 13 polyps, as we did from a patient yesterday lol

I'm impressed....you really have it down pat!

I learned from some of the best nurses!