OR NP

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Howdy! is there such thing as OR NP? If yes, what do they do? A friend told me about FNP who works in OR and help closing surgeries.

I want to get out of bedside nursing. I'll graduate BSN next year and plan to take graduate school right away, but I'm not sure what I want to be. inpatient and clinic NP sounds so stressful to me. Nursing IT might be fun, but I am not tech savvy enough. I might like management, but I am not sure either. I just don't want to make the wrong decision and end up regretting the path I chose.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

NPs can function in the role of a first assistant in the OR. However, their duties also frequently include rounding on patients, seeing patients in the office, and other actions that would fall under the scope of practice. It would be exceptionally rare to find an NP who only works within the walls of the OR.

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If you are uncertain of what type of NP you would like to be or what specialty you would like to work in maybe continuing immediately to graduate school is not the best decision. It would be a waste of tuition to start school only to find out you hate the job and have to go back and spend more money. Just a though! Do you currently work in the OR to know if you will even like working in that area of nursing or if you can tolerate the attitude of most surgeons?

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I would recommend you to work as a nurse in the OR first to see if you like the environment if possible.

I have seen an acute care NP assisting a surgeon before, but I feel majority of assistants are PA. I kinda doubt if completing a FNP program solely prepares you to be competent to jump into the OR as an assistant..

I dislike bedside nursing too. I transferred from med surg to OR last year. I tried, but I unfortunately don't like OR either. I feel different kind of stress in the OR. I don't have any other specialities I want to try in nursing anymore. I'm going back to school for non-nursing master's program.

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Thank you for sharing. What Master's degree are you looking into, and why, if you don't mind sharing some more. I am exploring the possibilities out there. I'm aware of my limitations though. Some skills like people skills for management positions are not me forte.

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Personally, I don't think an FNP should be in the OR - I don't think they should be in the hospital at all... They were trained for primary care - outpatient care. Surgical patients are acutely ill by nature of having a surgical procedure. You'll have patients from the ER, the general floors and the ICU that you will have to manage pre, intra and post operatively.

I think the ideal combo is an ACNP or ACPNP who completed a RNFA program. This is what I did. This prepares you to function as a first assist in the OR, and to round on patients pre and post operatively. You'll be utilized just as a PA would be - there will be no difference - but I believe NPs are better suited for this role.

PM me for more details if you have any questions.

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Personally, I don't think an FNP should be in the OR - I don't think they should be in the hospital at all... They were trained for primary care - outpatient care. Surgical patients are acutely ill by nature of having a surgical procedure. You'll have patients from the ER, the general floors and the ICU that you will have to manage pre, intra and post operatively.

I think the ideal combo is an ACNP or ACPNP who completed a RNFA program. This is what I did. This prepares you to function as a first assist in the OR, and to round on patients pre and post operatively. You'll be utilized just as a PA would be - there will be no difference - but I believe NPs are better suited for this role.

PM me for more details if you have any questions.

I have a question for you Duodingo. I don't know how to PM. Anyway- I'm about to start an ACNP program and my end goal would be to work for a surgery service and also become and RNFA. My background is 2 years and PRN on an adult neuro floor, followed by 3 years of pediatric ICU seeing patients up to age 25, all at a level 1 trauma center. I am getting back into working with adults full-time but would love to just go to the OR but I'm wondering if this will hurt me in school since my primary background is pediatrics. I don't really want to work in an adult ICU or ER, although I would do an ER if I had to. THanks for any advice!

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I have a question for you Duodingo. I don't know how to PM. Anyway- I'm about to start an ACNP program and my end goal would be to work for a surgery service and also become and RNFA. My background is 2 years and PRN on an adult neuro floor, followed by 3 years of pediatric ICU seeing patients up to age 25, all at a level 1 trauma center. I am getting back into working with adults full-time but would love to just go to the OR but I'm wondering if this will hurt me in school since my primary background is pediatrics. I don't really want to work in an adult ICU or ER, although I would do an ER if I had to. THanks for any advice!

I guess it all boils down to your timeline. You can only do an RNFA program if you meet 1 of 2 criteria:

1. You have been a peri-op nurse for 2 years

2. You are a NP

I think if I were you I would just go into the OR. It's such a different world within medicine. Get familiarized with the instruments and procedures, etc. If your ultimate goal as a NP is to work for a surgical service and be a RNFA I think this will be more beneficial to you.

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thank you! that is what I'm going to do and the timeline is perfect. I was/am just worried about clinicals and not being caught up to speed on all things adult, but there's always reading literature about it if I have to. I think my critical care experience, even though pediatric, at least exposes me to critical care and everything that goes with it. thank you again!

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thank you! that is what I'm going to do and the timeline is perfect. I was/am just worried about clinicals and not being caught up to speed on all things adult, but there's always reading literature about it if I have to. I think my critical care experience, even though pediatric, at least exposes me to critical care and everything that goes with it. thank you again!

You'll be fine. If you have RN experience with 13-25 then you should be fine. You'll get the geriatric didactic and clinical experience in school. If you want to be ahead of the game get a general medical text and just read it. I read Cecil's essentials of medicine. You'll be way ahead of the game if you do.

The RNFA program will give you the OR clinical time you need.

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