Advice for a psych nurse wanting to transition to the OR

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Hello Everyone,

I am looking to make a career change after almost 4 years in mostly psych nursing. I work in an Emergency psychiatric unit in a large city in California and not inpatient psych, so it's very fast paced and yes…. Crazy! Any who, the truth is I feel as though I am becoming a little burnt out. In Psych nursing you never really get to see patients improve, you just watch patients maintain their diagnosis and move on. On top of that it is a lot of verbal and even physical abuse from patients, which can be exhausting.

I also have some med/surge ED experience and worked in a jail setting for about six months. I was wanting to apply for a class that is offered here at a local community college for prospective ORNs. Do you guys think I have a chance? I need to renew my ACLS, which I'm not worried about. I guess I'm just worried that my IV/catheter skills are not up to par and I'm worried that this will hold me back.

OR nursing has always appealed to me as I love the surgery settings and I and I feel like it would be a great fit. I'm used to seeing patients at a very fast paced rate and I am also used to high stress environments. I would like to get my foot in the door and I basically meet all of the requirements that this program requires. It is one semester long and begin in the Fall of this year.

I am 30 years old, I have BSN and would love to hear any comments or advice anyone could offer.

Thank you!!!!

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What does this class do for you or how it would help you get a job in an OR in your area? Does taking this class often lead to people getting a job in the OR? I haven't heard of a class like this before, at least not through a community college.

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Hi! This is how the course is described on the colleges website:

Southwestern College's Peri-operative Nursing Program has been offered since August 2011 and follows the AORN's PERIOP 101 curriculum. The program has widely received acknowledgment from the community for its signature Perioperative Nurses training. It is helpful if students have clinical sponsors and applicants are strongly recommended to have current basic nursing skills in all of the following areas; starting IV's, administration of medication through IV, basic dosage calculations, taking vital signs, foley catheter placement, blood transfusions, dressing changes and interpersonal communication skills.

Upon completion of certification requirements, the graduate is eligible to apply to take the AORN Periop 101 certification examination for Registered Nursing.

Southwestern College : Operating Room Nursing (ORN)

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Your idea, the course, sounds great. I have asked several OR nurses I know how they were able to get their foot in the door. Many are older, but even some young, new grads, said the hospital was offering OR nursing orientation classes and they were accepted. (Make it sound so easy!) One nurse worked med/surg, then transferred to the GI in-patient clinic which is under the OR umbrella, then was able to work her way into orienting in OR.

There are a lot of out patient surgery/GI clinics. After your class don't limit yourself to acute hospital in-patient OR's. Even starting out in a GI clinic may get your foot in the door.

At my old out patient surgery job, that also did in-patient surgery, co-workers who "only" worked level II PACU, or pre-op were asked if they would like to orientate to OR because it was, (is?) hard to find an experienced OR nurse.

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Thank you so much! Ive been getting some good feedback. My hospital also offers its RNs opportunities to transfer and cross train in other units. I'm thinking I will get back my ACLS and maybe take a refresher course for IV insertion. Thank you for the motivation!

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Yea, I ultimately got my foot in the OR door through PACU. I'll be moving into the OR in a few weeks.

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Honestly you probably don't have to worry about fresh IV skills to get into an OR. All of our IVs are started by techs in pre-op. If one has to be done in OR, anesthesia handles it.

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HTCC thanks so much! Thank you for the encouragement!!!! I think this is a good decision and having the support of people that actually work in the OR is amazing. Thank you!

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I am currently in the periop 101 program at my hospital, about 6 weeks in. A LOT OF INFO, feel like my brain is full already. But if you google "OR residency programs" or something along those lines, I'm sure you can find some programs near you.

As far as inserting IVs, sadly anesthesia does that, which I am bummed about bc I love doing IVs. Also, anesthesia handles all the medications as well at my hospital. The only medication handling the RN does is when they give meds to the field as the circulator, or they're drawing up and passing the med to the surgeon as the scrub. I know every hospital differs with those tasks though. Definitely keep up with any bedside nursing skills you can. The OR is just a whole different animal.

Good luck!

You'll get there, don't worry.

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Thats amazing and good to know! My hospital also has an OR residency program that I will be looking into. Thank you for the support!!!

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Talk to the OR manager. Tell them you are interested in a job in the OR and ask if you can come observe one day. That will give you a good feel for how things really work in the OR and will show the manager that you really are interested:)

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Thanks sprinhchick1! Great idea!

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