Has anyone ever seen a surgery?

[kdbean530]

I just graduated from first semester and I have already seen and exploratory abdominal procedure. It was the best experience of my life! So I was wondering, have any of you students been in on a procedure?

[abiklags]

Greetings--

Mmmmm....surgeries. Heck yeah, surgeries are awesome. Every now and again I forget how cool they are and then something comes along that jolts me out of my "been there, done that" mindset. Like the young gent with half a fence post through his abdomen. Yeah. That'll do.

It is good to see a discussion regarding the dark side of nursing, AKA OR nursing, however, I tend to see a few misconceptions which I wish to clarify.

I do more than chart. Much more than chart. I am more than a glorified go-fer, although I will not deny that is part of what I do.

I am the muscle, the unsterile hands of my team when I circulate, and the ever watchful advocate. I know my patient is getting light well before anesthesia does: I can sense it. I do not request more anesthesia for my patient. No. I demand it.

As the sole nurse in the room, when things go wrong, it is all me until the cavalry arrives.

As a Trauma leader, when the big nasty/yummy gunshots roll in, I am all over it. I have massaged hearts, held in intestines, prepped the brains out of someone's eye socket, cradled limbs hanging by a thread and even welcomed infants into this world. I assist in intubations, ventilations, placement of lines and chest tubes. I push in blood, manage IV drips, and act as anesthesia's right hand.

All while singing along to "Elvira" by the Oakridge Boys.

Did I mention that I chart? Yeah. I do that too.

So sure, occasionally things are quiet. Every now and again I do some good old fashioned open heart cases. Or, my personal favorite, hemorrhoidectomies. yeah......

But it's all good.

Because I focus on one patient, one family at a time. It is a rare luxury in the nursing world to be able to dedicate such time and attention to one individual.

And that individual is truly at their most vulnerable: all control is literally torn away, rendered unable to communicate, or even breathe for themselves, stripped naked and completely helpless.

I guard them as they sleep, cover them and keep them warm.

I have sat in the waiting room with families too hysterical to be soothed by the Chaplain alone. I have helped families look past the tubes, bruising and external fixators to see the face of their beloved child. I have held hands, listened to secrets, and wiped away too many tears.

And I only have five minutes to earn my patient's trust. I do not get the time granted to floor nurses to form rapport. Five minutes for my patients to feel comfortable enough to trust me with their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

We are the ninjas of the nursing world, operating under the smoke screen of Versed, just as soon seen as forgotten, the dressing on your operative site being the only evidence we exist.

In answer to another question: yes, it is very possible to work as an OR nurse direct out of school. Check out area hospitals to see if they have an orientation program in the OR.

Lemme tell ya, when Humpty Dumpty had his great fall, they didn't call King's horses and King's men.

They called the OR.

God, I love my job.

Always open to any questions/comments regarding the OR. Please feel free to PM me.

Peace.

wow. your post just completely changed what i thought of OR nursing. even though OR is not calling my name like other areas of nursing, i have to say OR just went up a couple (hundred) notches on my personal totem pole rank of nursing jobs. i have to say, your post has a poetic quality to it. well written and i enjoyed reading it. thanx for the great reading.

[tokyoROSE, BSN, RN]

I loved watching surgeries. The three I saw was a thyroidectomy, a total hip replacement, and C section. The hip replacement was just crazy. All the hammering, drilling, etc. on a 90 year old patient. They were worried that I would pass out! What amazes me is how well people recover from such a major procedure. I would love to see a cardiac and/or neuro surgery someday. However, I hope and pray that I will never need surgery because of what I've seen. It is fascinating, but OUCH!

[RainMom]

A student in my clinical group got to see a penile implant procedure - didn't know they were even done in our small rural area!

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

When I was a student I saw a fem-pop bypass and a c-section.

[Wrench Party]

Yep! Last semester, saw a laparoscopy in the knee to clean up a meniscal tear, disc replacement surgery where

I got to see all of the cervical vertebrae exposed, and repair of a torn rotator cuff. Some of my classmates

almost went down in their rotations but the blood and fluids didn't bother me much.

In the meniscal tear surgery, excess saline and blood and goop was spurting out of the openings in this dude's really swollen knee, and was leaking all over the floor towards me. The surgeon was dead calm and was

like "oh, you might want to watch your shoes. A little bit of drainage there"

[LovedRN, BSN, RN]

Umm... I know this is 4 months old already but I want to say that you can watch surgeries on ORlive.com too. I just finished watching c-section. So cool. Surgeon explained everything too.

[nursing81student]

We had one "off-unit" experience in our first med surg clinical...I chose the OR, and I saw a CABG with a vein harvest. It was such a cool experience. The surgeon let me stand right at the head of the bed so I saw everything about 3 ft from my face.

[Julesmama28]

Cheesepotato, that was beautiful! I don't know that I'm interested in OR nursing, but I have been a patient there and I've had nurses just like you! You rock.