OR student nurse-feeling unhelpful

Nursing Students General Students

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Does anyone ever feel like they will never improve and be able to be an RN??? I'm from New Zealand and have just started my 4th week in OR (orthopaedics) as my final placement yet I still feel like like I'm crap at everything. My sterile technique is awkward, and the instruments are still very overwhelming. I feel like I make mistakes and no matter how I do things and try to be helpful, I always do it wrong! Even though the staff are really nice about it I'm getting frustrated with myself.

Plus, I haven't scrubbed yet and another girl from my year group just posted about how she solo scrubbed today-I have even scrubbed at all!

Just needed and rant, and know that I'm not alone. Tips/advice/encouragement welcome haha

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

I would say that at 4 weeks in the OR, you're expecting too much of yourself. Our orientation for experienced people is 12 weeks, and orientation for no OR experience is 6 months one on one and 3 months with one resource person for 3 orientees. It's a common saying that it takes about a year to feel comfortable in the OR. You may want to head on over to the Operating Room Nursing forum for tips and experiences, although I suspect that you may not find much specific to students as OR rotations aren't common in the US, which seems to be where the majority of the membership is from.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

In the US, OR nursing is a pretty 'closed' society - especially since our nursing students are not routinely provided with exposure to this clinical specialty area. OR nurses tend to really love their specialty area & rarely leave to work in another department. As a consequence, our OR nurses are an aging bunch (hey, no pejorative intended, as I am in the same group) - so this makes it even more challenging for "new" nurses who are learning OR specialty services.

Not only do they have the usual "I'm so dumb, I don't know anything" feelings shared by all new grads, they have to deal with super-experts who have decades of expertise... these veteran nurses may not even remember what it felt like to be new. Hang in there. OR has arguably the most lengthy training of any specialty... in my experience, it takes at least 12 months to produce a 'novice generalist' -- & @ 5 years to produce a proficient OR nurse who can function in multiple specialty areas.

You can do this.

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I'm a Surgical Tech (starting my 3rd semester of an ADN program next week) and our OR internship for nurses (Versant Residency) is 9 months. There is so much to learn especially since there are many specialties in the OR. 4 weeks is definitely not enough time for anyone to expect you to be proficient. Give yourself a break and just learn as much as you can. It will take time on your own to feel like you know what you are doing, you will get there!

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Thanks for your support guys, you are right, I tend to be hard on myself! I keep re reading your comments as they soothe me a lot! It's hard not to compare yourself to others and as I'm working in private the nurses are super experienced so do make me feel like an absolute idiot! (not intentionally)

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