Should I go straight to the OR as a new grad?

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Specializes in LTAC, OR.

Hi everyone!

I'm 21 years old and graduating from a BSN program in May. So far, the area I've liked best in clinicals is the OR, but some people tell me not to start out there because I won't use a lot of my skills. Although I don't know if I could stand to set foot on a med-surg floor ever again. I'm just finishing up med-surg clinical and I HATED it! I didn't like being stuck with the same patient for 8 hours (especially the total cares...ugh) and wiping butts so in a sense it was boring, but it was really flustering at the same time because there are so many tasks to keep track of and meds to give. I think I need some place like OR or ER where the patients are asleep most of the time or I know I won't have to deal with them all day. I feel like a bad nurse for thinking that way, but oh, well. You have to do what suits you, right?

(And my name's Rachel, not Bridget, but I feel like her most of the time. ;))

I'm glad I found this forum! So far it has been really helpful.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Ask for what your interested in. Why torture yourself and others by working med-surg if you're going to be miserable. It doesn't mean your a bad person. There's a lot of things you can do. Good luck.

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Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.

Many OR 's have an internship or residency program, find one that has it and go for it. OR is very specialized and requires a lot of training. But go for and good luck.

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Specializes in Home Health Care.

My friend started in O.R. and loves it!

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Hello,

I am graduating soon too. I did an OR rotation and an ER rotation....

First let me say do what you think you will enjoy, don't start in a job you will hate, otherwise what is the point of being a nurse and going through all the school to have a job/career that you love.

However, I really don't recommend the ER, because although patients can be asleep most of the time and not busy, my personal 11 week experience was that when it gets hectic you have multiple tasks to remember and coordinate with the rest of the team. Also sometimes when it super slow you end up with the boring jobs and as you said "butt wiping".

I think the OR would be a great place for you to start given what you have stated. Your patients can have long or short surgeries, but it will be new people all the time and you get to concentrate on one patient at a time.

I wish you luck and I hope to find my niche as well :)

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I have two friends (we all just graduated last spring) that went right into OR programs (major city hospitals). They both are so glad they did, neither of them enjoyed floor nursing (which is where I ended up, b/c I do enjoy it -for the most part - and absolutely hated the OR). To each is own. You will learn your own very specialized skills in the OR. Good luck to you!

Edited to add, you will need to start investigating soon. One friend interviewed in December of 06, for a job starting in July 07, my other friend interviewed in January for a July position. Start early. It also seemed that the smaller community hospitals generally do not hire new grads straight into the OR.

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Specializes in LTAC, OR.

Thanks everyone!

And Piki-I was thinking that I should get going soon sending out resumes, but I had no idea how early I had to apply! Thanks for the heads-up.

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