I had graduated, passed my NCLEX and will be starting my OR job on July 16.

I would like some advice, from experienced nurses and some nurses just starting, on what can I do to make my orientation process run as smoothly as possible.

I am very excited to begin my new career.

Hi, I have worked in the OR for 1.5 years. Was an LPN prior to that

for 8 years, doing mostly pediatric home care. Did you work as a scrub

tech while going to school? Just wondering or are you going to work

in open heart and general surgery when you start in July???

I will tell you that the OR is a high stress job. Either you like it or you

don't. You can give great care because you only have one patient at

a time to focuss on. As far as orientation: Maybe you could check

out AORN, and join. This is a great organization for OR people. There

is also an Peri-op 101 course that you could take. It is very important to learn the instuments being used. Start off with the major set.....

Get some good textbooks... Alexanders is good. When you start

in the rooms look up the procedures you will be doing the night before.

This will really impress you preceptor. There is much more... If you want to know more, just let me know. I will be glad to help you in any way that I can... Good Luck to you... You are really needed:nurse:

I am starting in general surgery for 1 year then I am transferring into open heart. That's the plan discussed during my interview. And I'll be a circulating nurse.

Congratulations on your new job! you will see that I have many years in the operating room. Do your self a favor and get as much information as possible to prepare yourself for your new arena. as one of the other nurses said, go to AORN and check out the excellent books that will help you be more prepared. Alexanders is good, but there are many other's that help. Berry and Kohn is one. Do not make the mistake that just because they tell you one way in the book that it is the way your doc's will do it. The surgeon's all have there own unique way about them. You will soon see that one instrument can have many names. I would love to help in any way with questions. I can tell you that you need to prepare yourself for the feeling that you may not know "things". This is difficult enough when your a new grad. much more difficult when you have been practicing on the floor for a few years. Your floor experiences will be great for your "fast" patient assessments that you will have to make as a circulator. Everything will be much more fast paced than what you are use to. Take deep breath's every so often to relax yourself. It is a great place to work but can be intimidating. get a notebook to right down special information that nurses will be passing along. It is a great resource for you when you are down the road a ways. Do not be intimidated...... keep a good log of who,what, when and where with you so you will have an answer if your not sure about a prep or glove sizes or instruments specific to a type of procedure or surgeon. All the best:balloons:

If you are practicing general surgery and then go into a specialty like hearts be sure you understand the politics of such a service. In an OR with many disciplines, hearts, urology, neuro, etc. there is a certain clique that emerges. It is not because of the people themselves but more because you will be spending countless hours with the same nurses, anes., techs, surgeons. That can be very threatening to other services. While you do your year of general keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth closed. You will know when you have somethings of value to contribute to your team.Learn all you can about your OR both politicially and medically. The sciences can seem like a piece of cake when compared to manuevering the shark infested waters of politics. Good luck.:monkeydance:

:) Hi again... Very good advice from previous threads. Get yourself

a little notebook to record phone number also.... lab, boss, blood bank,

phone numbers to the different OR rooms or there intercom code, surgical processing... (will need to call them on a regular basis to order

instrument sets and supplies when your case is pulled wrong) !!!!

Check out and join AORN.org. They have meetings once a month

on a different topic related to OR nursing. They have conferences

all over the place. In the future you could go to Florida or something

for a week and the hospital will pay for it. I personally found that

"Alexanders: Care of the patient in surgery", was more informative

than Berry and Kohn. Check your unit, they may have copies for

you to check out. Will your orientation include didactic??? I hope

so. All hospital's are different.. This would better prepare you for

the OR instead of just throwing you in a room. Sounds like a good

plan getting 1 year of general and then Open Heart. I don't know

anything about open heart. I do general and gyn. I heard that Open

Heart has a lot of call... I guess it is different everywhere. Just be

prepared and you will do fine. None of us came out of the womb knowing how to be an OR nurse. Hopefully you won't run across anyone that has this way of thinking. I can also remember being so

tired mentally and physically during orientation.. I guess this is normal.

So days would come home and flop on the couch. Couldn't wait to get off of orientation so I didn't have someone looking over my shoulder. But,,, then it is all you. You will get your own routine. You

will pick of things from other nurses that you like and incorporate them into your practice. OH,, and don't take anything personal from surgeons. They are under a lot of stress and can sometimes take things out on you.. Just let it roll off. You will learn which ones you can kid around with and which ones just to keep your mouth shut.

Well.... Take Care and good luck in the OR.........

Hi Regglyn,

I am starting in the OR next week, I graduated last year from nursing school, and have been doing home health for a year. Im very nervous also, especially after reading some of these posts. But Im excited and I really hope i am one of the people who love it. I have been an EMT for 5 years prior, and would also have loved an ER job, but its difficult as a new grad to get those. Are they sending you to perioperative training or do they have one. Im going a few evening a week for training as well as being precepted for 6 months. Luckily I do learn pretty fast. Best of luck, maybe we could keep in touch and discuss how its going for us both.

Pam C

Joining AORN for good journals and ce articles--this will get you new to the OR up to speed pretty fast.