Adjusting to the OR

[Ilovethe80s]

I took a periop course and did 160+ volunteer clinical hrs in the OR over the summer and fortunately got hired into this OR. I am starting my 2nd week of orientation and I have found the class and clinical time I did to be helpful, but I still feel VERY overwhelmed. Last week I was trying my hardest to be on top of everything, but there are still so many kind of cases I am not that experienced with and surgeons that I don't know very well. Last week I was prepping, helping position, putting in foley's, interviewing patients, doing counts, charting, retrieving things, flash sterilizing, taking specimens, etc, so I guess for my first week that's not too bad. I just get so nervous, especially when I'm doing things in front of everyone. My confidence level isn't at its highest b/c I realize I am the new kid on the block and that compared to everyone else, I have the least amount of experience and I know it shows. I am a new grad so I've also recieved some comments about not having any other nursing experience.

I wonder if I will ever "get it all" and finally have some confidence. Maybe I am putting too much pressure on myself. I spoke to a nurse about feeling overwhelmed and she told me when she trained she focused on one area when she was in a case, that is she either circulated and did no charting or did only charting. I feel like that's probably a sound approach b/c it seems more important, to me, to understand what's going on w/ the surgery, what instruments and equipment is being used, and how the patient is responding, then getting all of the charting down (last week I was trying to juggle it all). Can anyone share w/ me how they tackled their orientation in the OR? I also ordered the Alexander book 3 days ago. I love the OR and I want to make it!

[daVinciNurse]

I would agree with focusing on one area at a time. Once you get a good feel for all the pieces of the puzzle, then you can begin putting it all together. Is there an educator in the dept? Do you have the same preceptor each day? Try to keep it to 1-2 preceptors for each service--you need to account for sick days/vacation for each preceptor. But if you stay with the same nurse each day, you will learn a routine quicker as we all do things a little differently with the same end result. But when you are new, you need to learn one person's routine and then adapt it to your style. Hang in there, it will get easier. Just give it time. When I started in the OR, I was learning to scrub and circulate and was given 9-12 months to complete my orientation.