Not allowed in OR for clinical??

[EmeraldNYL]

I am peeved. I was really looking forward to observing in the OR as part of our med/surg clinical, but today we were informed by our prof that we will "probably not be able to go because they feel there is no point to you being there." WTF?? The med students get to go observe in the OR, so why not the nursing students? If we can't see the OR, how will we know if we want to do OR nursing after we graduate? Has anyone else had this problem?

[cindyln]

way back when I spent a week in the OR. I will never forget my first surgery. I ended up on the floor. I have never liked OR after that. I just tolerate it when I have to go to a c-section. I will never forget that floor.:)

[JohnnyGage]

Originally posted by EmeraldNYL

RN2b, it is the hospital (a very prestigious teaching hospital) that won't let us in. Our profs are fighting for us to get the experience though. I guess I can understand that they don't want a bunch of people there getting in the way, but we would be going one at a time anyway. I did get to see a c-section in Women's Health, but I would like to see surgery besides just that! My fiance's mom is an OR nurse, maybe I will call her up and see if I can shadow her.

In situations like this I tend to be a bit confrontative ... If I would have heard this as a student, I would have had all of the students sign a petition stating why it would be a good experience with a footnote stating that if this hospital is so against education, we would all pledge not to work there. With the shortage the way it is, it might get their attention.

[Nurse Izzy]

In our clinical, we have one day in the OR and one day in the PACU. We will scrub in and everything, but we aren't allowed to "come and go" per se. We have to be there at 630am on that morning and will not leave until 1pm (or whatever time the surgery ends closest to that). I'm really looking forward to it, but don't know what to expect - we have two lecture days devoted strictly to this topic.