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My mom just had big big operation (pancreaticoduodenectomy plus extra stuff) ... They had her in for over 8hrs. We knew it would be that long..
Do you all (any one in the OR ie surgeon, tec nurses ect) have to train your bladders? DO you just leave if nature calls???
I worked for nine years as a surgical tech before becoming an OR nurse. There are several reasons I decided to go back to nursing school and this a HUGE one! Standing in one position with your body twisted to retract or assist the surgeon is tiring. In addition, as surgical techs we take the brunt of the surgeon's you-know-what when they become frustrated in a case. While the money for the year of school you put in isn't bad, it's not enough! Surgical techs are highly underpaid and it's a very, very hard profession on your body. While I occasionally do scrub as a nurse, my job now mainly consists of sitting at a computer, charting the case. I do work PRN on the floor for a med-surg unit & there is a lot of no-bathroom-breaks with that position. But it's nurses...it's what we do.
Yup. It happens a lot. I normally don't pee for between 8-12 hours at a time. Not a good thing. But just the way it is.
And that is why most nurses have kidney issues and incontinence by the time they're 50 (this refers only to nurses who have been working the floor since their 20s, not newbies or 50 year old "second profession" nurses).
Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN
6 Articles; 12,051 Posts
Rules were made to be broken...
Especially when the team has been working for over 20 hours straight with no breaks and the surgeon is going to pass out unless someone sneaks a Gatorade with a straw under their mask.