[Luvbuble]

Hi all,
I am making a big big plan. I wonder if anyone can help and give me some advice.

Let me give you a little bit of my background. I have worked in the OR in a big hospital for about 8 months. My internship instructor quit in the middle of my internship and the new instructor sucks big time.
So far, I don't feel that I have been properly trained to be an OR nurse and all I have been doing is following some nurses around just to help them out. They use me like slave and I am not being appreciated. And worse of all are the surgeons and anesthesiologists. They are rude and everyone in the OR is sad and miserable which makes me miserable and depress to go to work.

With all these going on, last week I started applying for some jobs. I will be interviewing for an OR nurse job in a small surgery center next week.
My question now is how should I present myself during my interview?
Should I tell them I have to quit my job at my hospital because people suck there? That will make me look like I am not a team player. Or should I tell her I want to quit because I don't get much of a training there? If I tell the interviewer that, she will probably under the impression that I don't get much out of the training and I will not be capable of working over at her place.

My another question is I am still wondering if I should quit my hospital job because I have a contract with them. I want to get out of the contract but I will have to pay them some money. How can I get out of the contract without being penalized? Have you ever got out of your contract before? What do you tell your manager when you quit?

[suzanne4]

You will need to honor the terms of the contract, and pay what ever the fee is. They invested time and training in you. Otherwise, you are guilty of breaking it and they can go after you for the amount listed in the contract for breaking it. Dod they give you any time of monetary bonus for signing with em, such as tuition reumbusement, or location expenses?

As for the new employer, tell them that you are looking for a different environment. Not negative issues that you had with where you are now.

[meownsmile]

Im afraid your only option is to just take it on the chin and pay off the contract as stated in the agreement. I dont know there is any work around for that.
If you really are unhappy in surgery why not just go to personel or another department head and ask for a transfer to a different department. Maybe PACU or ambulatory care would work better for you. You need to discuss you feelings with your department head though. Maybe they have someone else that would be more receptive to having you train with them. You have to remember the orientation in OR for even an experienced OR nurse is several months so for a new grad it would be much longer for competancy.
It may even be that the OR head is thinking maybe you arent the best fit, so if you go to them first you may have their blessing in moving to another department. Just dont take that personally if thats the case. Some people just dont work well in that environment.

[Luvbuble]

Originally Posted by suzanne4

You will need to honor the terms of the contract, and pay what ever the fee is. They invested time and training in you. Otherwise, you are guilty of breaking it and they can go after you for the amount listed in the contract for breaking it. Dod they give you any time of monetary bonus for signing with em, such as tuition reumbusement, or location expenses?

As for the new employer, tell them that you are looking for a different environment. Not negative issues that you had with where you are now.

My hospital gave me sign on bonuses but no tuition reimbursement.
I know I am guilty of breaking the contract but I am really not getting the training that I need to do my job.

[suzanne4]

Then you will need to give them back the sign-on bonus, plus whatever charges that they have listed in the contract.

And as the other poster above stated, are you sure that you are cut out to be an OR nurse? Not all are. Going to a surgical center in the area, usually involves the same physicians working there, not sure if you took that in to consideration. After eight months of training, are you ciculating in any rooms on your own yet? Or always there just assisting?

I suggest that you have a heart to heart talk with your manager as well as Human Resources. If after eight months, you are not able to have your own room for easy cases, with a back-up available to you for questions, then something is definitely amiss here.