Need more advice asap!! OR vs aesthetics

Specialties Aesthetics

Published

Okay guys, I posted a similar post yesterday and got a few responses but I need some fresh opinions because I have been presented with two offers and I have to make my decision TODAY! My anxiety level is sky high because I do not know what to do.

I am a fairly recent new grad (2010) with 9 months of clinic experience and no hospital experience. I KNOW floor nursing is not for me. I have been offered an internship (six-month) in the OR for a Circulator only position. It is pretty far from home, I won't know what hours I will be working until after the internship is over, and there is call twice a month where I would have to spend the night (weekend) at the hospital. I know OR experience is great but is this the best decision for my family. My kids are teens but still

Second job is at a laser hair removal facility that has been in business for over a decade and has locations all over the US. Fortune 500 company. I did shadow there and while the job would be routine, it is low stress, good hours, closer to home, and pay is better.

I just don't want to make a bad decision. I tend to be pretty OCD, but I've also got an anxious personality type and tend to do things slow at first ( and maybe for awhile!!) because I second guess myself, lack a lot of confidence, and want things done perfectly. I know, its counterproductive.

Other posters have commented that they could never "circulate" in the OR if it was only that because it was a boring job, although high stress as well. I'm truly stumped on what to do... Is the OR internship a better, wiser career move? But with my personality and anxiety, and perhaps slowness at first, would this even be a good fit as a circulator??

please help!! Thanks

I would definitely choose aesthetics:

Closer to home

Better Pay

Better hours

Less stressful

Sounds like it could be fun

I shadowed at the OR for a full day, and I hated it. yeah, the surgeries were somewhat interesting but the role of the circulator didn't interest me one bit. I would have rather been helping out with the surgery (scrub nurse I guess they're called).

I appreciate all the advice :)

Canesduke: The laser hair removal center does not have any doctors or surgeons working there, only treatment providers (nurses), so meeting plastic surgery contacts would not be happening there. But that is good thought :)

I do suffer from anxiety, but I also feel that I am and can be hyper-vigilant. I like one patient at a time. I did not succeed on the floor and was too overwhelmed because I am just not good with time management of multiple patients. I would get so overwhelmed and flustered because I am so slow at first when I learn something because I want to do it perfectly. It is counterproductive but its hard to change that about myself. I want to take a medicine for my anxiety/OCD behaviors but I am worried that would just fog up my cognition, short-term memory, and vigilance would be out the window!

When I am learning something, I have to do it repetitively a few times, maybe more.. and a little slower than most. But once I have it down, I'm great!

I'm worried the OR will be too fast-paced, I will be too slow.. I dunno. I have just had bad luck with nursing so far and don't want to make another bad decision.

As far as my long term goals... I'm not sure. Just trying to find my niche.. for my unique personality type ;) (Aquarius, INFP, weirdo (Lol)

Okay, I know this was a year ago, but you can't be slow in the OR. It is the most stressful job I have ever had! Just because there is only one patient at a time doesn't mean you don't prioritize.

If you have issues with time management then OR is not for you. They really heavily look into turnover times and expect you to function real quickly. Good luck hope that info helped.

hopfrogger,

i know this was an old post, you probably already took a position, but for my two cents: if you have issues with stress/OCD then the OR would be a tough place for you. I was a circulator and was on the edge of panic attacks almost everyday. It is an incredibly tense situation where time is always top priority. Surgeons are NOT patient people and they do not care about the nurses. They want what they want when they want it. I can tell you of many times when a surgeon asked me for 3 or 4 things AT THE SAME TIME and then yells because he doesn't get them all at once. I hope you are enjoying whatever position you took and are happy and thriving there. I'd be interested in knowing how things turned out.

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