Brand Spanking New OR Nurse

Take heart. I was a superstar in nursing school and I, too, am a complete OR retard. Any stupid thing that can be done--I've done it...twice, maybe three times. I now categorize the surgeons as 'thinks I'm a complete moron' or 'might not yet think I'm a complete moron.'

The other day, after 6 weeks of being precepted in circulating CABGs and valve replacements I was left alone to do a pacemaker lead extraction. I had only seen two prior, both done by different doctors. EVERYTHING the surgeon asked for I was like "Huh? What? What's it look like?" and my scrub tech who couldn't help me took more than a wee bit of pleasure in my suffering. After twice being asked for something I had never heard of, I finally went to my charge nurse and told her I needed someone with me who knew the equipment. At the end of the case the surgeon thanked everyone by name except for me and I felt like total crap.

The next day I circ'd a CABG/valve replacement by myself and things went a little smoother. I was nervous, and managed to contaminate a small mayo set-up during opening when a robnel wrapper ripped on me, but I told the scrub nurse ASAP and she was cool about it.

The thing that sucks is, if everyone knows it takes a year to be a decent OR nurse, why is there so much grumbling, laughing, eye-rolling, whispered comments, etc. by the senior staff. Sometimes I feel like they want us orientees to fail...and that sucks

Hi all! I appreciate the posts because I am going through the same thing! I am a brand new OR nurse (did fabulous in nursing school, and did great in an ICU and PCU as an RN!). I feel like an IDIOT 95% of the time, but I don't take it to heart because I understand that I am new and I know I shouldn't be expected to know it all. It's so true though, everyone tells you that you won't and shouldn't know a lot right now, but surgeons and other personnel sometimes make you feel you want to crawl in a hole in the wall for not knowing every little detail! Again, I go about my day and brush off the comments and eye rolling. I have been told I am actually doing really well and feel ok, but I still do at least one or two stupid things a day. However I know this is a great job because even after being on my feet for 6 hour cases and dealing with the "anti-new nurses in the OR" staff at times I still come home happy and love the job, its so exciting and there is a lot less "BS" that you deal with as opposed to floors and other units. So I appreciate everyone saying the "retard" phase ends, and I am glad I am not alone in feeling this way! Good luck to us all!

Hi, I'm a new grad who was hired for the OR straight out of school. Woohoo I got my dream job, but the week before starting I got a call saying that they didn't have a position for me. However, I got put on a nice surg/trauma floor until the OR opens back up. I'm really looking forward to getting there. It's what I really want; however, I keep running into nurses questioning why I would want to work OR. What's up with the anti-OR nurse attitude? I can't wait to get there.

I get the anti-OR vibe all the time too. I graduate next winter and I'm the only one in the class of fourty evan remotely interested in the OR. Oh well, no one to fight it out with for preceptorship placement!

I love the OR, and trust me, it will come to you! It takes one year to become less retarded and another year to feel like you know what you are doing most of the time. I have four years experience and still learn new things every day. Once you settle in to a specialty, things will start to come together. Orientation is hard because it is so many different things all at once. Focus on your specialty and you will be surprised by what you remember from orientation. Soak in as much as you can and avoid all of the social aspects of the job. You will not fit in socially for anywhere from a yr to two years. The OR is a shark tank, so trust no one and don't give them a reason not to like you. Start growing a thick skin now! Good luck!! I promise it will be worth it in the end. The OR is a land like no other. Each day is new and fresh and exciting!

Hi, I'm not officially an OR nurse but I work in Labor and Delivery where we are also trained to circulate C-sections and be the scrub tech too if necessary. I have circulated plenty already and the cases are pretty much alike, but I feel like it's such a technical field and the two days I will be getting to learn how to scrub isn't going to cut it for me. Is there a good book or online resource where I can learn the basic stuff before I get in there? Thanks for any help.

Hang in there, everybody feels retarded in the beginning. Shoot, I think it was 6 months before I was like...First, I hook up the bovie, then the suction...LOL

I am looking for advice...Brand new nurse, Brand new in OR. I am not sure if it is me, or this is normal. I'll attempt to keep it short and sweet! I have been in training for 11 weeks. After one month of training I was counseled because I was not anticipating what instruments would be needed, I was not prioritizing, and I was allowing my preceptor to do things. I would let my preceptor do things if I had never seen that procedure before ie. prep, get supplies in middle of case. If I have never seen a procedure, I cannot anticipate the unknown I was NOT sitting there eating bon bons, I have no problem saying I dont feel comfortable, or let me watch this time and next time you watch me..... Different preceptor daily, weekly.After 2 months of training, perform independently. Anticipating and prioritizing. Got rave reviews from preceptors, matters little to educator, other than being told you are where you are supposed to be.
Second rotation: 2 days with one preceptor whom goes on vacation. Rest of week, and next week assigned various preceptors back in first specialty, whom say "call me in the lounge if you need something."
This week...assigned daily preceptor in new specialty, I have 2 days experience in this specialty. No formal education as to instruments used in this specialty, procedures....only training received is location of instruments and machines. Preceptor walks in and says you are doing this all by yourself, I will just get stuff if you need it. I explain that I have never seen this procedure, and this is my third day in this specialty. To which she responds that I should know by now and be able to do it. Then she begins yelling that I need to get the sutures...so I go to get the sutures. She show up 45 seconds later saying I should be in the room and I need to prioritize because I can get the sutures later in the case...okay.... Evidently she gets paid not to teach, but to demean people for 8 hours a day. She left to take her break, and things went smoothly, I sent 9 specimens, documented, lights, sutures...etc. I dont know at day three all the instruments, sutures used and etc... She returns to sit on a stool and stare at me for the next two hours, not saying anything, not doing anything.
Turns out she took a break to go tell my educator what a terrible job I did, how I cannot prioritize and I was getting the sutures when I should have been getting the patient, which she told me she was going to do.
For me, it was shear chaos, she was raising her voice telling me 40 things at one time. I am frustrated because I am really trying. When I am being thrown with different preceptors in different specialties, there is no consistency, each preceptor has different expectations, different schools of thought. So I was confronted by the educator whom told me that I should have been able to do this indepentently. I explained that I am still not very fast, I have never seen this surgery before and add to that someone whom is telling you to do 8 different things at the same time, it is impossible. Am I supposed to know everything by now?
I have never had a complaint from a surgeon, or resident. In fact I have received compliments from some of the most difficult to please. I never heard good job when I receive compliments from surgeons, or when I caught my preceptor handing off an expired implant, or when anesthesia was about to administer a med the patients was allergic to. Being a patient advocate doesnt really seem to matter here. But you see a case for the first time in your life, and you actually want your preceptor to help you the first time...Holy Makeral, you have commited a crime and they are going to let you know what a terrible nurse you are. There is alot of bullying going on here, intimidation, criticizing and threatening.I have had one great preceptor, she explained everything, then would wait and quiz you on it and again review if you missed something. She is what a preceptor is..a teacher.
I am frustrated because I really am trying. I was told that perhaps I should do what some other people do which is come into work early to set up the room, unpaid. I am usure if it is the hospital, me or the OR in general. Is their timeline of expectations correct?

I have been an OR nurse since 1982. I've been set up by other nurses as well as scrub techs, all who chose a passive-aggressive way of making sure that I whould look dumb("Oh, you know, the circulator didn't understand what I needed on the field" or "Well, she forgot to get it", etc when the scrub nurse SHOULD have told me ahead of time what she needed- or hell, she should have checked the cart and made sure it was available). It happens to me NOW, still, not just as a newbie. It aggravates me more than I can say, because my job is not to be the step and fetchit for a scrub who just doesn't bother getting basic stuff or telling me all at once what she is missing. I HATE leaving the room more often than required.
I've worked in five different OR's and everyone of them put me through a form of anti-nurse "welcome". I think it's because OR nurses are VERY territorial, many keep knowledge to themselves, and the wrong people are picked out to be preceptors. I try to show the new folks where all the supply rooms are, as well as the ever-shifting locations of "stuff". My current hospital gets a load of new technology in constantly, so there is always change in both equipment and the stock that is used with them.
Even within an OR that is big enough to have seperate team, changing teams is fraught with that same territory defensiveness. It also occurs to me that some nurses are much more aggressive than assertive, which is a real waste of time and effort.
I've just come off of a very frustrating couple of weeks, working 3-11. That's my standard shift, but it seems that management makes a flip desicion to place only certain people in certain cases, which doesn't sit well with me. 3-11 staff are expected to be generalists, and in my opinion, need to be familiar with all kinds of cases, so we are competent to show up in whatever room. Notice I didn't say exceptional, merely competent enough to get through the case with the help of a WILLING strong scrub.
What can I say? If you work in an OR with limited turn over, the group becomes like a big family, so anyone new is scrutinized and pushed within an inch of their lives. If there is large turnover, the remaining battered few are worried about the new folks contaminating stuff, etc. We are over all a very aggressive bunch. In some places the docs are ever worse than the nurses. Once you are accepted, suddenly it all lightens up. I don't understand the point of making anyone feel like an idiot. There are times when things go badly and THEN one RN and only ne should be the lead, giving other folks instructions to do a mess of things. When you have very assertive nurses "helping" another, sometimes is is a power struggle all the way to see who is going to actually be in charge, despite that the orginal circulator is the one who needs to direct the other staff. I was in one of those kinds of rooms on Wednesday night and man, it really upset me.

Don't despair, ladies....you will figure it out after a while that you love it or you hate it, whether it's worth it to you to keep working in the OR or not. Funny thing is that despite crap days like I've been having, I'd still rather work in the OR than anywhere else......guess I'm just a crazy OR nurse.....and am simply whining about my lousy time in addition to trying to give out reasons for why OR nurses act the way they do.