Leftovers

The average person on the street would be amazed at the amount of "stuff" that is leftover after a surgery. For example, sometimes things get accidentally dropped on the floor before making it to the sterile field or stuff that is opened but do not get used. Some of the items commonly left over are lap sponges (big 18"x18" cloths commonly used to pack bellies during surgery, empty syringes, ace wraps and sterile gloves). What usually happens is, if these items are clean (i.e. they have not been contaminated by blood or other fluids), they are taken home by staff (no, the patient is not charged for them). The big 18"x18" cloths and gloves are wonderful for cleaning up around the house!

Yuuuuck!!!

I don't know about other surgical nurses, but when I first started I was a little squeamish. I mean you're looking at blood and guts (literally!) all day, every day. You're also getting whiffs of all kinds of gross smells (i.e. burning flesh as the surgeon cauterizes, bowel smells on bowel cases, some medications are very odiforous)........and then you're going to the break room and eating lunch!



I was surprised at how quickly I adapted. At first, I didn't have much of an appetite. But, shortly, I was able to be eating and talking about all sorts of gross things at the same time without getting nauseous. My family, on the other hand, does not appreciate "shop talk" at the dinner table!

Achilles Tendon Repair

So, the other day, I circulated on a surgery for a torn achilles tendon. It was pretty gruesome looking and awesome at the same time. The patient was in a prone position (on stomach) with feet hanging slightly off bed. The surgeon made the incision from approximately below mid-calf to top of heel. I could see all the muscles, tendons and nerves. He then "fixed" it! Here's a picture of a typical achilles tendon repair

Learner's Permit

I took my son to get his Driver's License Learner's Permit today because he is taking driver's ed this semester. He passed!! Yeah!!!

My Top 5 Reasons for Being a Surgical Nurse (aka Operating Room Nurse or Circulating Nurse)

Please don't think I'm a heartless nurse, these are just my opionions:


1. Minimal patient contact --- meet patient in preop, transfer to OR room, patient is anestetized, procedure complete, patient awake maybe 2 minutes upon transfer to PACU. Total patient interaction time: maybe 10 minutes

2. At my facility, only have to take care of 1 patient at a time in OR.

3. Get to observe all kinds of surgical procedures: laparascopic cholecystectomy (removal of gallbladder), nephrectomy (removal of kidney), replacement of joints (i.e. shoulder, knee, hip) just to name a few

4. Interaction with surgeons. This can be a plus or a negative! More on that later.

5. Get to wear comfy clothes all day (aka "scrubs").


There you have it! My top 5 reasons to be surgical nurse. Later, my top 5 reasons not to be a surgical nurse.

Hey everyone:

Welcome to my blog. I live in south Alabama, am married (20 years!) with 2 children aged 17 and 16.

When I turned 30 something, 15 years after receiving a BA in Psychology (which I did nothing with), I decided I was tired of just being a secretary, which I what I had been doing all this time. After months of research, discussions with many people and a lot of soul-searching, I decided to go back to school for nursing. It seemed the most logical choice with job security high and salary much higher than what I was currently making.

I was able to go back to my old college alma mater, take a few pre-requisites and apply to the school of nursing, to which I was accepted.

The whole time I was in nursing school, becoming a surgical nurse was my main interest. After 3 years I graduated with my BSN, worked 4 months on a med-surg floor, and here I am now 2 years and 3 months into being a Circulating Nurse in surgery.

Well, that's it for today. Stay tuned for much more!

Introduction

Soooooo, this is my first post on my first blog.....yea for me! I'm now entering a whole new world....look for many more posts soon!

site wide discl0sure

This policy is valid from 01 August 2008


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