Outpatient Surgery Magazine

The Affordable Care Act - March 2015 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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1 5 9 M A R C H 2 0 1 5 | O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T be lots of time while you're waiting on Dr. Somewhere Else to show up. Right now we've got to go, go, go. Hours later, when you finally have a moment, you'll have to remember to explain that patient care is important, but OR time is the ruler. If you care about patients … …care about the new hires. A seasoned OR nurse can make or break a new grad or new arrival. That shouldn't be a choice we'd ever consider. A lot of us were subjected to intimidation, lies, withheld information and other forms of occupational hazing when we were starting out. I'd like to say that was the past, but the practice continues. Under the bus is no place to learn. We're nurses, not mechanics. We should be flattered that new and fresh minds want to learn surgical nursing and stand beside us in patient care. So I refuse to put them through a trial by fire, and so can you. You can never have too many co-workers, especially when you're facing the real enemy, long cases without breaks. But more importantly: young nurses aren't a threat. They're the future. I want them to know everything I do, and more. I want to know that the up-and-coming faces behind the masks will be able to deliver the best care to every patient (one of whom may be me). We are the light In the days of Florence Nightingale, nurses carried oil lamps on their rounds when tending to patients. The lamps were welcome and warm light that let patients know they were not alone. I think we still carry that warm light. I think we are that light. I can see it in the newest members of our teams. Surgical nurs- es have to have a fire inside them to do what they do, and I see it as my respon- sibility to keep that fire burning in my successors. OSM Ms. Watkins can be reached at pwatkins12@comcast.net.

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