OR nursing

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I am considering working in the OR someday, but everytime I tell my fellow students that they look at me like i'm weird or something. I would love to hear from some other students who are interested in the OR because then it won't make me feel so singled-out! Thanks!!!:uhoh3:

Just curious, exactly WHY do they think you are crazy? What do they think is so bad about it? OR is one of the areas I think I could be interested in after nursing school.

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I am also thinking about becoming an OR nurse, but have my reservations because I do not know much about it, and the duties of the nurse. Any one have any tips please fill me in. Thanks

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:uhoh3: I am also thinking about becoming an OR nurse, but have my reservations because I do not know much about it, and the duties of the nurse. Any one have any tips please fill me in. Thanks
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I am and always have been interested in OR nursing. I am going to apply for my spring preceptorship in the OR. I have heard from some people that they could never just "stand in one plcae" all day, the surgeons can be jerks, you loose you assessment skills, blah blah blah. :chuckle: I have been interested in the OR since I saw my first knee surgery (ACL repair) 12 years ago. I've heard the OR at our local hospital is a great place to work too.

-Bobcat

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
I have heard from some people that they could never just "stand in one plcae" all day, the surgeons can be jerks, you loose you assessment skills, blah blah blah. :chuckle:

Shows how wrong they are! While the OR nurses do stand during OR procedures, they are not necessarily not moving around, except perhaps for the scrub nurses who are in the sterile field. The circulators are all over that OR suite and are the go-fers for anything that needs to go into or out of the operating room. The circulators also do assessments of the patients. Next time you get a surgical patient take a good look at the intraoperative nurses notes and you will see an assessment by the operating room RN there--it will be brief and focused onto things important to the OR, but it has to be done and signed. They are very concerned with the patient's positioning on the table (because he/she may be lying there for hours) and their skin so bony prominences need to be protected. How basic can you get with nursing care than that? That bovie plate they use for cautery has to be placed so the patient doesn't get accidentally burned. OR is not just a walk in the park as a nursing job by any means. By the way, when I was a supervisor and had to make rounds to all the different units, I can tell you that the OR nurses lounge had the best food of any of the units! Between cases, they take breaks just like other staff and where I worked they always, always had donuts or some kind of bakery and fruit in there for all. Some of it was brought in by the surgeons for them. They also had a TV in there to watch. Floor nurses kind of rate stopping to watch TV right up there with sleeping on the job in a lot of places! One hospital I worked in had to close down their OR for three days over a long weekend to fumigate it because the fruit flies from all the fruit lying around in the OR lounges had taken over the place and were causing problems in the surgical suites as well! While I know that a lot of nurses over the years develop a low opinion of MDs, I can tell you that some of them are extremely generous when they decide to treat the staff. The OR lounge TV, coffee maker, air popper (for popcorn), and microwave were all gifts from surgeons. Twice a year at July 4th and Christmas or New Year's the surgeons got together and partied the OR staff--the food they had sent in was awesome! Those of you who aspire to OR nursing are going to find it a very interesting place to work! For those who think that the OR RNs don't have much patient contact--think again. The last couple of times I had surgery I was greeted in the pre-op cubicle by the RN who was in charge of my case while I was in the OR and accompanied to the OR by her as well. While we were inroute she asked me a number of questions for her assessment and even answered a couple of personal questions I asked her. In one case I was ambulated into the OR, not taken by guerney, to my surprise. While OR nursing is considerably different than working on a medical unit, the OR nurses have just as important a job as any staff nurse. Remember, the patient's life is in the hands of the OR staff during surgery because the patient is often unconscious and paralyzed during general anesthesia. That is an awesome responsibility to take on.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
I have heard from some people that they could never just "stand in one plcae" all day, the surgeons can be jerks, you loose you assessment skills, blah blah blah.

Sheesh.

According to my pedometer, i log in about 9,000 steps at work a day.

As for surgeons beign jerks, you'll have the occaisional jerk, but heck, what job doesn't?

And i haven't lost any of my skills, i've only added to it.

It's all in how you take it.

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I agree with what everyone is saying- the nurses weren't exactly standing around when the hand-in nephrectomy I observed went south. I was trying to be a fly on the wall so they wouldn't kick me out and I could watch what happened when a patient crashes. It was SO cool!!! Not that the patient crashed, mind you, I would never wish that on anyone, but that I got to see how fast everything happened and how well the OR staff worked together. I really want to be a part of that someday. I have a background in orthopedics too (used to be a certified athlletic trainer-sports medicine) so I am especially interested in the ortho cases. I observed some really cool ortho surgeries back when I was an athletic trainer- I got to follow the athlete from when the injury occurred to the surgery and all the way through the rehab. That's when I got the OR bug I think. :cool:

The surgeons were joking around as they were stitching the nephrectomy patient up too- they looked at me and said " The only time the "doctor's" get to say 'Nurse, stitch this patient up' is on the TV show M*A*S*H" :chuckle

I will be filling out my (OR) preceptorship application tomorrow after I take my exam. Can't wait!!

-Bobcat

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Specializes in OR.

I think it's great that you want to be an O.R nurse. Don't let anyone discourage you-people will try but the people who bad mouth the O.R. tend to either not know much about it or have tried it and washed out. Good luck and I hope I can call you a fellow O.R. nurse someday!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiac Cath Lab.

I, too, love the OR and enjoyed every minute of my perioperative clinicals. The best thing about nursing, in my opinion, is its diversity. Some nurses love labor and delivery and can't imagine working anywhere else. And some nurses love the OR and can't think of a better place to spend their work days. Aren't we lucky to be going into this profession?

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The surgeons were joking around as they were stitching the nephrectomy patient up too- they looked at me and said " The only time the "doctor's" get to say 'Nurse, stitch this patient up' is on the TV show M*A*S*H" :chuckle

-Bobcat

Hey! Not True! For those with high OR aspirations a certified peri-operative nurse (CNOR) is eligible to take advanced coursework to become a Registered Nurse First Assist (RNFA) and do a lot of hands on assisting the doctor with the surgery which includes suturing. Actually we see RNFAs and PAs most in the ortho rooms where a surgeon might have two ORs and separate teams to do "back-to-back" total joints. We call the back-to-backs but really, the surgeries overlap. The RNFA helps the circ and scrub to prepare the pt, surgeon comes in starts surgery, gets the implants in, starts closure (all with the RNFA assisting independently/ seeing a need taking initiative) then turns the remaining closure of muscle, fascia, and skin over to the RNFA while he meets the next team and pt. Many times the RNFA also writes post op orders then has them co-signed.

Some RNFAs work for a specific surgeon or group of surgeons others work for our hospital as an RN circ/ scrub and fill in the RNFA spots as needed. They assist on any type of big case where otherwise you would see two surgeons being needed.

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Specializes in NICU.

I am not a nurse (pre-nursing right now), so bear with me, I don't know all the technical jargon here. :D However, when I had my tubes tied (after my 2nd baby), I was scared to death. Prior to that, I had never had anesthesia for anything (even the childbirth part was all natural). I don't think I could have done it without the nurse that I had. He explained everything to me, answered tons of my (I'm sure crazy) questions and stayed with me before, during and after the tubal. I was so scared of being put under (don't know the proper phrase - sorry), that he ended up talking to the Dr. for me and the anesthesiologist (sp?) just gave me general anesthesia instead so that I wouldn't be completely asleep. My experience was wonderful (honestly, it was - I joked with the Docs and Nurses during the surgery) and I know I would have had a much harder time had it not been for that nurse. I think the field of OR nursing is very noble - imagine being amazing enough to whisk away a patient's fears and make his/her surgery something that is actually enjoyable - or, at very least - not terrifying! :) Pursue your dream, compassion is greatly appreciated!!!

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