Need advice

Specialties Operating Room

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I'll be graduating this year. I will be an OR nurse. Sooo excited.

I have two options for the hospitals I choose. One is a smaller one that performs maily elective surgeries, some small emergencies like c sections etc. My other choice is a level 1 trauma. This is where the the worst cases go. If someone's in a bad car accident 50 miles away, this is the hospital they go to. They also perform open heart and neuro. They do anything and everything.

Where should I go. Should I start out in a smaller, more stable environment, get comfortable in my skills or should I just jump right in there into the more acute, unpredictable cases. If I go to the trauma hospital, will I be ok? Is it too much to start out in. Any advice would be appreciated.

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

First off congrats for making it through nursing school :)

Do both these places give you the opportunity to scrub and circulate or circulate only?

I would recommend that you go to hospital which does the elective cases. That way you can gain some experience and confidence before tackling on a major trauma case. The last thing you'd want to do is have to scrub for a ruptured AAA or something if your not confident in what you are doing.

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I'm in Canada so we do both. You alternate the cases so you end up doing half and half each day.

I'm wanting to go the trauma hospital thiking that I might as well just jump in there and get it over with, that way I'll be able to handle everything down the line. I think it might be too much though, I dunno what to do. I'll have to really think this through. I've talked to the nurses who work there and they said its doable. Of course, there's a shortage everywhere and they were just trying to recruit me, oh decisions decisions...

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After working in the OR >20 yrs, I think the place to start is the trauma center. It will be much harder to go the other way. As a new grad, you will learn sooooo much more in the trauma center. If you tire of it in a couple of years (it passes faster than you imagine) you can always take that experience with you anywhere. If you get comfortable in the smaller enviornment, you may never make the change.

Right now, as a new grad, they will not expect you to know anything. If you come in as an experienced RN, even from a small hospital, the expectation is much higher. A busy trauma center can be intimidating, and it's not for everyone. Now, fresh out of school, is the perfect time to give it a try.

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See if it's possible to spend a day at each place shadowing a nurse. That may give you a better idea of which environment is best for your temperament.

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After working in the OR >20 yrs, I think the place to start is the trauma center. It will be much harder to go the other way. As a new grad, you will learn sooooo much more in the trauma center. If you tire of it in a couple of years (it passes faster than you imagine) you can always take that experience with you anywhere. If you get comfortable in the smaller enviornment, you may never make the change.

Right now, as a new grad, they will not expect you to know anything. If you come in as an experienced RN, even from a small hospital, the expectation is much higher. A busy trauma center can be intimidating, and it's not for everyone. Now, fresh out of school, is the perfect time to give it a try.

Wow did I need to hear that. I think I pretty much made up my mind to go the trauma center but I'm just nervous about doing it. This makes so much sense. It might be harder to go the other way and I can always switch to a smaller hospital if I'm not handling it.

I'm actually already been working there for a month as an employed student nurse. I just help circulate on the cases, run and get stuff, prep the patient, foleys, charting, all the little stuff. I've seen a couple of traumas already and yes its crazy, the nurses running around, surgeons cracking the patient right open, at the end one they went through 100 sponges so mop up all the blood so I've seen what they have to do.

I'm nervous about it but I think i'm gonna do it. Thanks all.

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It sounds like you are off to a smart start, working there as a student. Good Luck!

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Hi and congratulations!

I was in the same situation just a year ago...I got an offer at a smaller hospital where I actually did a semester OR clinical. I already knew everyone and allot of their policy and procedures. I also got an offer from a very large university and level I trauma center.

While I was already comfortable in the smaller hospital, I felt as though I had already seen 99% of the cases that they do in the 3 short months I was there. I went ahead with the big university hospital and in the year I have been there, I feel like there is SO MUCH more for me to learn. I am normally a small, intimate company type gal, but I felt that, if worse came to worse and I ended up in a smaller OR, I could handle it given I had all the worst of the worst cases at the larger OR.

Oh, and I also had to look at their attrition and internship program to make a decision.

I feel as though I made the right decision - good luck to you!

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