Typical Day

I am an MA at a clinic. Typical of most offices he RN functins as an assistant for the doctors. They would room patients, do vitals, give injections, draw blood ,EKG's, and assist with procedures.It may also include calling patients, answering phones, and calling in Rxs. In specialty clinics they may do IV's , wound care, castes, patient teaching, or MA suprovising.

Many clinics are expanding beyond the 9-5 hours, so make sure you are aware of hours before you apply.

I am an LPN, working as primary nurse for a general surgeon.

My duties:

-Room patients; vitals, meds and often suture and staple removal

-manage his schedule-both office and OR

-set up sterile trays and glove/assist with minor procedures in the office. We do lump removals, portacath removals, biopsies and hemorrhoid and other rectal procedures

-paperwork for patients scheduling surgery-witness consent-patient teaching

-schedule tests and procedures as ordered by the surgeon-CT, ultrasound, mammo, Colonoscopy-patient teaching regarding prep and the specifics of the test

-answer phones, some Rx-but not a lot compared to family practice/internal medicine

-calling patients, giving tests and pathology (benign-the surgeon calls patients who have been diagnosed with CA)

Also be back-up and help for my coworkers when I have downtime. Which is pretty rare these days. We are really busy.

A typical day is tough to describe as every day is different. But that is one of the things I love about it.

Hey everyone,

In another thread someone put what a typical day would be for that specialty, anyone interested in doing that here? It would help others know if this type of nursing is for them.

Thanks !!

Chrissy

I know this post is old, but here are typical days for me...

(Med/Ped's office - previous typical day)

Get to work, make sure rooms are stocked and clean, check oxygen, fridge/freezer temp, phone messages. Start bringing patients back... full vitals for the adult physical... temp, wt, quick strep test for the 10 year old with a sore throat... physical needs an EKG, blood drawn... bring back the newborn, do head, wt, length, growth curve, pinch cute little cheeks... strep test positive, tell doctor... geriatric follow up, vitals and mini-mental (doctor pre-ordered)... check messages... physical is gone, clean room... bring in 5 year old for school check up, do vitals, growth curve, vision, urine, glance at shot record (will need DTaP, IPV, MMR, VZV - give information sheets)... another sore throat with a cough on an 20 year old with asthma, do vitals, quick strep, peak flows... pull lab reports and put on doctors desk... 5 year old ready for shots (yippee), draw up, document, give with lollypop and stickers... strep test negative, tell doctor and send out culture to lab, correct what doctor told patient (we do NOT get the results back the next day, call in 2 days)... Holy crud! It's 10:00 already?!... Give your co-workers a hug and hope it slows down in the afternoon (at least until school gets out at 4:00)

(Multi-specialty office - new typical day)

Get to work, make coffee, check the schedule for the cardiologist who starts at 10:30, pull charts, file charts, organize charts on desk... help with primary care for an hour by faxing refills, pulling charts, bringing in a few patients... bring the first patient back for a follow up, make sure reports are in chart, do EKG, get weight, review med list, beg patient to bring a written list of meds next time... wait for doctor to wander in, pull faxes and charts to go with... bring in next patient (repeat above)... fill out reqs for stress test, echo, and labs as doctor orders before next visit, smile as you show to check out and remind again to bring med list with next time... repeat with second patient... doc leaves to do stress tests at hospital... prepare charts for next day... pull dictated stress tests off computer for doc to sign tomorrow, send info to billing department, help primary care again... smile at the neurologist (who scowls back) as you pass by to talk to the gen surgeon about a patient the cardiologist wants seen for a pacemaker implant, he'll see in office tomorrow... Watch primary care staff run around like crazy and thank your lucky stars no one else wants to work with your doctor but you...

Wow, sounds like fun, really! I am starting a new job in a hospital-based urology clinic and it seems very challenging to comprehend all the admin, assist with procedures, and patient teaching that gets done in a single day! Kudos to you for ALL you do! Seems like you manage to keep a positive attitude as well! I hope I can live up to all that.... :-)