Has anyone gotten into OR via veterinary experience?

[lw7789]

Just a general curiosity. I've been in the veterinary field for a decade, the past year of which has been predominantly OR, and I fully intend to continue my work until I am either forced to leave due to school scheduling, or finding a new job as an RN. I LOVE it, but I'm tired of the field in general, and have decided to go to nursing (I know many of the problems are the same, or worse in the human medical field - my main problem with the veterinary field is that, as a technician, there's nowhere to go, and your pay can cap out at half a nurse's starting pay. Your best hopes are to become practice manager some day, and I'm tired of the dead end).

I've got an immense amount of familiarity with quite an array of surgical equipment; prepping the room for surgeons; pre-meding, intubating, transporting, scrubbing and prepping patients; opening the table (it's what we call "sterilly" opening all items for a surgeon before they scrub in); "running the room" (retrieving items for surgeons and sterilly placing them on the table); maintaining records of all items used - gelfoam, lap sponges, surgiclips, suture, etc.; scrubbing in, and assisting anesthetists with patients (grabbing hetastarch, drawing up drugs, filling scripts, etc.)... the list kind of goes on.

I know a lot of these things most likely apply to different jobs, but my main hope is that the the years will translate well into OR nursing.

Does any of this sound right? Am I grasping at straws? If OR nursing is similar to the vet field, then I'm barking up the right tree, and I'd love to know if this could possibly put me maybe a step or two ahead of the competition when trying to get into an OR residency (assuming that's still what I want on the other side).

Anyway, TIA!

[NedRN]

No, you are right. There is a tech at the hospital I'm at right now who had a vet background. A number of your organizational skills will translate. That said, I would still recommend you find a good teaching hospital orientation of 6 months to a year for your intial experience rather than a small community hospital.

[msancheeze, BSN]

I worked with a CST and an RN in the OR who were both veterinary techs prior to their careers in the OR and from what they told me, there was a fair amount of crossover. I would say you have a leg up on the competition. Are you planning on working while in school? A good shoe-in for the department is to work as an OR aide/orderly/transport tech/whatever entry-level position you can find.