Operating Room Nurses Day 2017

OR Nurses Day is November 14th - come celebrate! Nurses Announcements Archive

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Here's a little info about OR Nurses Day:

"The history of nursing dates back well over 2000 years. The Hippocratic Collection describes skilled care and observation of patients by "attendants" on several different occasions, which were most likely the first real nurses mankind has ever known. During later historical periods, both nuns and monks tended to provide nurse-like care to the sick. Examples of this can be found in the histories of many religions, such as Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. Archaeologists have also discovered plenty of evidence suggesting humans have been performing various types of surgery for up to 9,000 years, with the earliest Egyptian surgical texts dating back to about 1,500 BC. In 1989, the State Governor of Iowa, Terry Bransted, decided to help reward operating room nurses for all of their (often under-appreciated) work and put through an executive order to establish an annual Operating Room Nurse Day."

What Do Operating Nurses Do? is a down and dirty look at the daily activities of an OR nurse. OR nurses care for patients of all ages and with various issues. They can care for adult, pediatric, and critical care patients. Teamwork is an important aspect of all areas of nursing but especially important when working in the OR. These nurses care for patients who can't make their wishes known at a very vulnerable and stressful time in their lives. They are often the conduit of information to the families also and provide the much-needed updates during surgery. While some surgery is routine and scheduled ahead of time, OR nurses must also deal with emergent surgeries. This requires the ability to "change-up" your day - never knowing what will come next. Call is often required and varies from hospital to hospital. This is also a highly technical field and orientation is usually prolonged over multiple months.

Some personality traits that make for successful OR nurses:

  • Flexible
  • Personable
  • Take-charge
  • Organized
  • Confident
  • Willing to be a team player
  • Ability to think fast on your feet

Another AN article, Tips for New OR Nurses by AN Guide Rose_Queen has some great points to make a transition to OR nursing successful. She alludes to the extremely tech environment and states that it often takes a full year to feel comfortable. It can be overwhelming and that is why a new OR nurse needs to have a great team! Rose_Queen is a very experience OR nurse and gives some great pointers.

What do OR nurses do on a daily basis? Here is a video with some reasons why OR nurses do what they do:

I recently had surgery and truly appreciated the work of these nurses. I was very apprehensive as it was major surgery for a serious issue. I didn't know what to expect: I'm a total control freak and lying on the table in the cold OR was very anxiety-producing. Then one of the nurses came up to me, introduced herself, told me that she would be with me throughout the operation, not to worry, that they would take good care of me. Whew - what a relief! She provided a warm blanket and comforting words.

kathfleu

3 Posts

Hello, I am a returning OR Nurse. I am 50 yrs old and waiting for my approval for a Preceptorship in a Hospital before I can process my enrollment at MCC Refresher course. I am excited and at the same time nervous going back to my favorite job. The Nursing school will help me brush on my Nursing skills, but my specialty is in the Operating room. I just want to know what books I need to read just to keep me updated before I am exposed to the OR. I know it's been 20 yrs since I step inside the OR, but the skills and knowledge are still there. I just want to make sure that I'm not making a lot of mistakes and at the same time I'm trying to make my transition easier. My school is requiring me to have 132 hrs of clinical exposure. I don't want to burden my preceptor so much but make use of her time to learn more from her.

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