Advancement as an OR nurse

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Hello,

What are the avenues I can take for further education as a perioperative nurse?

Are there options for getting a Master's or Doctorate degree?

Advice from anyone would be appreciated.

thank you!

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

There's RNFA (can be combined with NP or just as a standalone), educator, management. NPs can work in the OR as a first assistant, but it may depend on the facility. CRNAs are advanced practice nurses who are in the OR environment, but do require critical care experience in order to apply for programs. There might be a few others, but that's what it's like in my facility.

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Thanks for your response Rose_Queen. If you don't mind me asking, what is your MSN in? What types of NP's have you seen working in the OR- would you be able to specify? Thank you again!

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Not sure what types of NPs are working in the OR- they aren't actually employed by the hospital but by the surgeon's group. In our system, they are simply "NP" without specifying FNP/ACNP/others. My MSN is in nursing education.

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I'm getting my masters (nursing, focusing in administration). I could get a DNP focusing in administration but chose the maters route. I'm not even really sure what my end goal is, I'm sure my purpose in life will find me as it already has so far.

In my facility, we have a few NPs who come to the OR, and as RoseQueen mentioned, they're generally employed by the physician practices they work with. In general PA, NPs or those certified as a first assist are more prevalent in facilities that do not have residents or medical students. Most of the NPs working with surgery groups that I interact with do not have a crappy call schedule, they are on call primarily to help cover management of patients. Some of the folks I know who primarily function in the FA role do have some unpleasant call schedules.

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Specializes in Surgery.

Several avenues to persue as mentioned by Rose Queen. I was an OR nurse for 25 years and got my BSN while doing that and now work as an educator for a surgical device company and working on my MSN in Nursing Education. I left the hospital I worked at due to no opportunity for advancement so you may have to move out to move up.

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