Soooo, you're observing in the Operating Room (O.R.)...

WOW! Ty, awesome and clear info for those of us who have not a clue yet...

Hello and thank you,

It was because of this thread that I became a member of allnurses.com. Factual, to the point and undercover stuff, this is great stuff for those who are thinking about becoming an OR nurse, students and rookie grads. Absolutely priceless!!! not only have you answered my questions, but also the questions that I didn't know to ask and then some!!

Nice one

MamaFrenzy
London

thanks for the tips..i'm also an OR observer before.. im an OR nurse now.. and this tips are so good and im hoping everyone who would enter O.R. could find this tips helpful and would alleviate their first time in O.R.

Thank you for your excellent advice, Marie.

When I was in nursing school, the OR was one of my first rotations. Having already been subjected to trauma in the past as an EMT, and by family experience, I was already preconditioned. The only thing I wasn't taught was to squeeze the nose bridge part on your mask so you don't breathe yourown Co2 and get dizzy or light headed.
My first rotation was boring since it was a shoulder arthroscopy, but after that, it got real interesting. I witnessed 2 carotidendarterectomies from the patient's head, and was allowed to view the entire procedure. The more I saw, the more excited I got.
I also saw a complicated thyroidectomy. Veins were intertwined all around and everywhere a vein could grow concerning a thyroid. The surgery stretched into twice as long as it should have been. I also observed a total mastectomy and saw how they preserve the areola, a dental implant that I wrote my OR paper on and received a top grade (simply because I used proper medical terms) and two total hips. I got to view extra surgeries because I had a perfect attendance and got to choose what rotations I wanted to go to.
Now a funny; There was a story about a student nurse who the surgeon told to pinch his nose. She looked at him puzzled, so he repeated his statement only with a little more emphasis, so she pinched his nostrils. Boy was she embarassed when she learned he wanted her to pinch his bridge clip.

What a wonderful post. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience -- I'm studying Operating Room Nursing next semester (w/ clinical rotations) so this was very helpful!