[elizabells]

Officially put in my bid for transfer to the OR today. They say minimum of 2-3 weeks before I hear anything at all, so fingers crossed! Hopefully soon I won't just be a silly lurker on y'alls (y'all's?) board.

[suzy253]

Hiya Lizabells! Good luck!!!

[WitchyRN]

Cool!! Very happy for you..If you have any questions or anything, just PM me.

[Fun2Care]

Best of luck!!!

[brewerpaul]

Good luck!
You might want to ask the OR if they'll let you shadow for a day in the OR. That will show your genuine interest and give you a chance to check it out beforehand. It will give the staff a chance to check you out too.

[BridgetJones]

Why are you leaving NICU, Liza? Welcome to OR (hopefully)!

[elizabells]

Well, poop. After 3 weeks of no word, I emailed the NM of the OR and expressed my interest in shadowing. I got a very prompt reply saying thanks for the interest, but they're only hiring experienced nurses right now. She did say that the adult part of the hospital has a training coming up. So here's my quandary:

A) I *hate* working with adults. Hate hate hate. I know that most PONI programs require a service commitment. I don't know if, once I finished a program, I'd have to serve out the commitment with the adults or if our children's hospital counts.

B) The NM of the adult OR is (wait for it...) the wife of my current NM. So for one, she may not hire me because my unit is shortstaffed and she'd be taking a nurse away from her husband. Similarly, if I apply and don't get it, obviously she'd tell him, and that would be ten kinds of no fun for me.

So what do y'all think I should do? I just looked at the two other children's hospitals in my city, and neither of them have postings for the OR.

[sheluke]

Don't give up! It seems there is a lot of competition for OR slots and it takes perserverance to get 'in'. Which truly is a great thing, because hopefully that means people are happy there (as opposed to some places that have such high turnover they are constantly filling new positions).

If you really want to do ped OR, make contact with the nurse recruiters at the other hospitals and find out if they do an internship, etc. Let them know of your interest and have your name at least.

I am in a situation similar, have watched the Childrens hosp for over a year, they did one training for new OR nurses in the fall, by the time I'd found out, and sent in app, they weren't even interviewing anymore. So, sent a very polite and interested note to recruiter, asking for heads up on when they might do again, she graciously emailed me back and said she'd keep my name on file. But to also go ahead and apply for open OR position, and in cover letter note the interest in intern program. I thought she was just being polite, but sure enough she both emailed and called me day they posted the new internship (actually I didn't even see it posted yet when went online! ) called her right away and have interview this week!

So, if you are willing to be patient a bit, it may be worthwhile. Now, I realize that again this internship is going to be competitive (interviewing all month and probably accepting no more than 6 RNs) but I've learned much from the 'lurking' :-) here, and have had opportunity to speak with the recruiter, she knows I'm experienced and even have management exp but really want to do this, and is aware of the fact that I know will prob even have to take a paycut at first as well. So, at least I know I have a chance and will have given it my best shot.

Best wishes!