Orthopedic Nurse Tech

Can anyone tell me specifically what a nurse tech in an orthopedic center does on a daily basis? I'm a 2nd year nursing student and have an interview soon for a nurse tech job and would love to gather more information from RN's or other nurse techs on what will be expected of me. Thx
Hi. I'm an ortho nurse. Our techs do the basic CNA stuff plus they are specially trained to deal with ortho and spine pts. They know the different precautions, how to move these pts and how to set up the equiment we use. Ortho pts can be very time consuming because they move slow. Good luck!

I am an ortho nurse tech. I do lots of admission assessments, ongoing (shift) assessments, a lot of teaching pts how to get out of bed, use their new orthopedic equipment such as crutches, walkers, CPMs, coolaids, braces, immobilizers, etc. I also help them get out of bed and get them moving which as the above poster said can be quite time consuming! Our pts tend to need a lot of striaght caths due to the surgery meds and epidurals. When I am not helping them with the above I help do all of the PCT (patient care tech) jobs.

snowstar are you in the US? This is the first time I have heard of a tech doing assesments.

Flo, are you the kind of nurse that live all the job to de CNA, so what do you do, a nurse that only see the patient on medication time?

Quote from SnowStar4I am an ortho nurse tech. I do lots of admission assessments, ongoing (shift) assessments, a lot of teaching pts how to get out of bed, use their new orthopedic equipment such as crutches, walkers, CPMs, coolaids, braces, immobilizers, etc. I also help them get out of bed and get them moving which as the above poster said can be quite time consuming! Our pts tend to need a lot of striaght caths due to the surgery meds and epidurals. When I am not helping them with the above I help do all of the PCT (patient care tech) jobs.

Quote from Flo.Hi. I'm an ortho nurse. Our techs do the basic CNA stuff plus they are specially trained to deal with ortho and spine pts. They know the different precautions, how to move these pts and how to set up the equiment we use. Ortho pts can be very time consuming because they move slow. Good luck!

Quote from fionyFlo, are you the kind of nurse that live all the job to de CNA, so what do you do, a nurse that only see the patient on medication time?

Quote from FollowThru11Thank you!! I think I will enjoy this alot. I just hope they will refresh me on some of the skills I learned during my 1st year of nursing school.

I worked as a tech for a year on an Ortho floor when I was in nursing school. And I am now a RN on the same floor. I absolutely love it. But, as a tech, I did a ton of vital signs (esp. for the post-op's), emptied hemovacs/JPs/foleys (if they were post-ops), helped walk patients to the bathroom/whatever else they needed, filled EBI's and ice packs, did accuchecks (if needed), etc. My unit is very team oriented because a lot of the patients I work with are a 2 person assist at the beginning. So, most of the time would be spent helping the other nurses/techs getting patients out of bed.

Quote from Flo.snowstar are you in the US? This is the first time I have heard of a tech doing assesments.