Advice (kind of long)

[2ndChance]

Hello, all.

I had posted on the critical care boards earlier, now I am appealing to the OR nurses for some advice! :)

I have been working in critical care/ICU for about 6-8 months. I have been a nurse for about 2 years. I took a job offer last February that of course sounded great at the time. Now, however, I am already ready to leave! Staffing issues have made it such that half my time is spent as a med/surg nurse, which is not really what I signed on for.

I know of a local, Level I Trauma center that offers a fellowship program in the OR. It would be 9 months of training and they would teach me how to scrub and circulate. It sounds like a great opportunity! I have talked with the recruiters and they were very positive about me applying.

Can you tell me, nurses who left the bedside to work OR, what you like about OR? I had already begun to feel burned out by bedside care. Also, do you think that the job opportunities in the future will be as bright as critical care? It seems to me that they would be, but I am so new to this train of thought I just wanted some information.

Any advice you could give me would be much appreciated!

[Guest20074]

I worked on a surgical stepdown unit for 7 months and just recently started the OR internship. What I love the most about the OR is that the staff is friendly, they all say hello and take time to learn your names and introduce you to surgeons. Another thing I like about the OR is hat I have more time to spend with my family and friends and not working weird 4-5 12 hr shifts every week.

As for job opportunities, there are lots for OR nurses, but the same could be said for nursing in general. You could work in PACU or even become a CRNA. You could become a RNFA (RN First Assistant Scrub) or get certification as a CNOR to get more money. I personally think that the idea of having critical care to have a good nursing career is so false.