CVOR or CCU(CVICU)?

[ncube]

I want to be a CVOR. Do I have to do general surgery before picking a specialty? Do you think I need a telemetry experience first? I eventually want to be a cardiac nurse practitioner, what will benefit me the most- CCU or CVOR? I posted this thread b4 but with a wrong title. Thanks for your replies!!

[KayceeCA]

I'm a CVOR. I worked as a nurse extern in the OR when I was in nursing school and I knew before I graduated that I wanted to do hearts. The first hospital where I worked didn't have much of an orientation for new OR nurses and they had a huge heart program, so they let me go straight to the heart team. I honestly found that too stressful as a new nurse without general surgery experience, so I left that hospital and went to a teaching hospital where I completed a 6-month periop program before joining the heart team there. I knew along that I wanted to eventually return to the heart team, but I really needed a good general surgery background first. Although I didn't especially enjoy my time in general surgery, I never regretted it and still think it was the right thing to do before joining the heart team.

As far as whether telemetry experience would be helpful or not, I can only speculate, but I would assume any CV experience would be beneficial if you want to do hearts. However, I have found that if you express an interest in learning everything you can in the heart rooms, the perfusionists and anesthesiologists, as well as the more experienced nurses and scrub techs, will teach you what you need to know.

[sandiegojames]

If your goal is to become a cardiac NP, you need to go to the CCU/ICU. The role of a cardiac OR nurse, while highly specialized, is a very different skill set than what is required of an NP. As far as just being trained as a heart nurse in the OR with out any other responsibilities, I'm not aware of any reason or programs for training OR staff this way. It may exist, but I don't see the point. The work done in the heart room as an OR nurse is built upon the experience of being a good gereral/vascular OR nurse.

If you want to be a cardiac NP involved in the OR scrubbed in for procedures there may be some benifit of having OR RN experience, but not mandatory. The CCU/ICU experience will however be mandatory without exception.

The OR is a great place to work, but if you want to be an NP, you need the critical care exp.