changing jobs

JUNE 1992, VOL 55, NO 6 AORN JOURNAL

Letters to the Editor

Changing Jobs

have just read the “Opinion” column titled I “What to look for when you change jobs,” which appears in the March 1992 issue of the AORN Journal. I have never felt so ashamed of the nursing profession. The only thing Mr Brooks neglected to address in his advice about interviewing for a new position was the eco- nomic status of the patients so he might decide if they were worthy of his care.

Need we wonder any longer why our image is so tarnished?

MARY LAMBERT, RN

SOUTHWOOD COMMUNITY HOSPITAL NORFOLK, MASS

OR STAFF NURSE

Technology Assessment

s I read the description of a perioperative A nursing director who was confronted by five surgeons who demanded five different sets of instrumentation for the same procedure in the “President’s Message,” in the February 1992 issue of the Journal, I was reminded of some comments thrown out at a seminar I attended in 1990. The speaker noted that medi- cal care, as practiced in the United States today, is perhaps the only business in which a group of individuals (ie, physicians) comes into a facility (ie, hospital), uses its plant, materials, and manpower, and pays nothing.

This same group has become so acclimated to virtually dictating policy that, when exposed

to the possibility or even the desirability of compromise, individual members periodically regress to the functioning level of three-year- olds (ie, they threaten to take their balls and go home).

I hope that some day nurses will be in a posi- tion and/or find requisite administrative support to allow them to do just that.

KAY J. BANDELL, RN TRAVELING NURSE

US NURSING CORPORATION DENVER, COLO

Eliminating Swgical Masks

sn’t it ironic that the Tunevall study and I William C. Beck, MD, FACS, FIES, have us unmasking, and the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, has us covering all body openings for protection against splashes? In April’s “Guest Editorial” titled “The surgical mask: ‘Another sacred cow,”’ Dr Beck’s sug- gestion of a splash guard isn’t new (we wear them over masks when copious irrigation will be used in a case), and he does not address the OR staff member’s concerns about being exposed to laser plume.

I laughed during the conclusion that eliminat- ing masks would give me more energy because I would not be expending as much energy breathing. I thought I was tired from lifting and opening heavy trays, moving patients, watching residents while doing my own job, and missing a few breaks because of staff shortages. Maybe

1351