Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Battle Post-op Pain Without Opioids - April 2016 - 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 2 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6 A s a traveling OR nurse, you go where they send you. But there's not always a welcome mat when you get there, or at any point in your 13-week contract. Here are some signs that your new travel assignment is going to pile on extra baggage before you leave town. • When you arrive at the hospital for your first day on the job, someone's waiting in the lobby for you … with a pager. You're on call tonight. • Instead of "Hello," your new co-workers say, "So you're the traveler, coming to make all that money?" Then, any conversation you have with them eventually comes around to, "If they paid us what they paid you, peo- ple would stay and we wouldn't have to spend all that money on travelers." • The surgeons will tell you to your face: "Travelers travel because they aren't any good and can't hold a permanent job anywhere." • Two (yes, 2) surgeons are on leave. One is out for medical reasons. His foot somehow made contact with a cabinet door in an OR. The other was advised to take a vacation due to stress. Something about someone's hands getting in the way of the needle holder. As a traveler, you don't ask for details. • You have to buy and launder your own scrubs, since the hospital can't afford to hire a service. • The house you're renting is a bit on the small side. The living room is the bedroom. You have to rent a storage closet for things you don't have room for at the storage closet you're sleeping in. Never trust a staffing agency to book your living quarters. The Lonely Life of a Travel Nurse Some 13-week assignments are all guts and no glamour (or living room). Behind Closed Doors Paula Watkins, RN, CNOR • ON THE ROAD AGAIN Some travel jobs leave you with more baggage than you brought.

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