Any new grads start in OR?

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Aug 31, 2004

Wow, how quickly this conversation turned. First of all, I would like to address one thing- the OR techs do NOT do all the work in the OR. In the or where I work, it's the RN who opens the room, prepares the equiptment, has the bed correct, gets things needed for the case. The tech's scrub in and set up their table then often break to go take a break. While they do work during the actual case, the RN is also working, often calling for additional supplies, doing the ton of paperwork needed, giving saline, hanging meds, checking equiptment, checking the pt, etc..... So whoever it was that commented, you might want to actually go into the OR before ticking the OR RN's off.

Let's say i'm assigned to a room (not a tech by the way, but i am a scrub). And one RN is assigned as a circulator.

The bed needs switched around or out. The bed's heavy as all heck. Guess who's helping the RN to move it? Me. Not fair to leave that heavy of an object to be moved for one person.

Policy at our facility is to "stay with your sterile table". This means if a case is delayed by an hour, and i already scrubbed and set up, i CAN break, BUT i cannot leave that room, because i cannot guarentee that stuff is going to stay sterile if i leave the room if i'm not watching it. Someoen could come in ther eand touch it and i'd never know it.

Before i scrub, if i'm missing something, it's up to me to call CS to get it. It's my own responsibility to have the supplied needed and required to start wit, according to the preference sheets. Usually at this time, the RN is giving report in PACU about the previous pt. and helping out to get that pt. settled and then interviewing the next one.

Anesthesia hangs any med for the OR. Even the pre-op antibiotic, Circulator does not, but this is our policy. I do not have the quote for it, but we have a policy for it.

My points:

1) It's insane to move those beds alone, that's a nice way to fall and/or hurt your back

2) Very rarely is there a table set up at the place i work at that is not used in less than one minute. A break between set-up and starting? Yeah right lol.

My MAIN point: Every facility is different, and where i work, everyone works their butt off getting the job done, even the guy that fixes the **** hydrothermal machine that only works in a blue moon.

Teamwork: it can be a good thing if everyone's got the teamwork attitude.

mattsmom81 · Aug 31, 2004

Reading the OP's post brought me down memory lane. When I did my OR rotation I recall thinking 'This has to be the worst place to be...stuck in here with these huge surgeon egos and their groupies and I can't get away from them.' The nurses in the OR seemed to me to be the most dysfunctional of all the nurses in my clinicals...having to coddle and suck up constantly. They seemed to delight in the students because it gave them someone to pick on, and they gleefully watched as the surgeons abused us. I don't recall hearing an encouraging or kind word from any of them...just barking orders at us and laughing while some students were in tears. I didn't cry...wouldn't give them the satisfaction but I still remember my anger at the poor treatment almost 30 yrs ago.

So.. I would definitely agree OR is NOT for everyone...LOL. Maybe I just had an unusually bad OR experience (or maybe they're all like this to some extent, I never went back to another one after that first delightful experience) Good luck to those of you who are trying. Hope you can find some positive mentors and that you find your 'niche' in nursing. Our personalities are all different and will guide us to our most rewarding experiences. OR was definitely NOT for me.

stevierae · Aug 31, 2004

Reading the OP's post brought me down memory lane. When I did my OR rotation I recall thinking 'This has to be the worst place to be...stuck in here with these huge surgeon egos and their groupies and I can't get away from them.' The nurses in the OR seemed to me to be the most dysfunctional of all the nurses in my clinicals...having to coddle and suck up constantly. They seemed to delight in the students because it gave them someone to pick on, and they gleefully watched as the surgeons abused us. I don't recall hearing an encouraging or kind word from any of them...just barking orders at us and laughing while some students were in tears. I didn't cry...wouldn't give them the satisfaction but I still remember my anger at the poor treatment almost 30 yrs ago.
So.. I would definitely agree OR is NOT for everyone...LOL. Maybe I just had an unusually bad OR experience (or maybe they're all like this to some extent, I never went back to another one after that first delightful experience) .

You definitely had a bad experience. I am sorry you didn't try out a different OR--you may have found it was the difference between night and day.

I do know about the "groupies" of whom you speak--there is at least one in every operating room. Usually this individual has NO LIFE outside the operating room. EVERYONE knows it--including the surgeons--even the ones she considers "HER" surgeons--and makes fun of her behind her back. These nurses are pathetic losers, and they OFTEN are not good operating room nurses--they are legends in their own minds. Hell with 'em. Don't EVER let people like this get you down. They are not worth giving the time of day to.

The OR is the most fun place to work. We see a side of the surgeons the med surg nurses don't see--they KNOW us, and they trust us implicitly. I have never had to "coddle" or suck up to ANYONE--and never would. I think of those guys, most of them, as friends and colleagues. If one of my kids needed emergency surgery, I would have absolutely no qualms about calling them at home, at night, even if they were not on call--and I know they would feel honored that I requested them, and come in.

Any nurse who would make a student cry or feel bad in ANY way should not be in an operating room. Again, these people are insecure and intimidated by knowledge--they have a secret fear that the new, enthusiatic, willing to learn and apply new skills new graduate will make THEM look bad--and they WILL. These nurses do the minimum required, complain constantly, and are really just short timers waiting for retirement. Don't even bother trying to get along with these people--don't feed into their negativity and insecurity. Kill 'em with kindness, and leave them puzzled.

Hey--where the hell is Shodobe?

angel03 · Aug 31, 2004

You definitely had a bad experience. I am sorry you didn't try out a different OR--you may have found it was the difference between night and day.
I do know about the "groupies" of whom you speak--there is at least one in every operating room. Usually this individual has NO LIFE outside the operating room. EVERYONE knows it--including the surgeons--even the ones she considers "HER" surgeons--and makes fun of her behind her back. These nurses are pathetic losers, and they OFTEN are not good operating room nurses--they are legends in their own minds. Hell with 'em. Don't EVER let people like this get you down. They are not worth giving the time of day to.
The OR is the most fun place to work. We see a side of the surgeons the med surg nurses don't see--they KNOW us, and they trust us implicitly. I have never had to "coddle" or suck up to ANYONE--and never would. I think of those guys, most of them, as friends and colleagues. If one of my kids needed emergency surgery, I would have absolutely no qualms about calling them at home, at noight, even if they were not on call--and I know they would feel honored that I requested them, and come in.
Any nurse who would make a student cry or feel bad in ANY way should not be in an operating room. Again, these people are insecure and intimidated by knowledge--they have a secret fear that the new, enthusiatic, willing to learn and apply new skills new graduate will make THEM look bad--and they WILL. These nurses do the minimum required, complain constantly, and are really just short timers waiting for retirement. Don't even bother trying to get along with these people--don't feed into their negativity and insecurity. Kill 'em with kindness, and leave them puzzled.
Hey--where the hell is Sohdobe?

I must say you echo my own thoughts...as a matter of fact I just sent her a personall note apologizing for the "losers" in ORs.....You are right I also would have not a second thought about paging or calling a doc at home and I have done so on a couple of occasions....I would never call for anything silly and they know it....they do feel honoured when advice is sought and are more than willing to help.....I will be an OR nurse until my legs give out!!!!!!!!

shodobe · Aug 31, 2004

Been busy as a one-armed wall paper hanger the past few days!!! I will try to answer some of the posts tomorrow, unless all h*ll breaks lose. Got to go, way to late and I am covering C-sections tonight because all they have in L&D tonight are "travelers". I don't know what overcame me! Mike

stevierae · Aug 31, 2004

I must say you echo my own thoughts...as a matter of fact I just sent her a personall note apologizing for the "losers" in ORs.....You are right I also would have not a second thought about paging or calling a doc at home and I have done so on a couple of occasions....I would never call for anything silly and they know it....they do feel honoured when advice is sought and are more than willing to help.....I will be an OR nurse until my legs give out!!!!!!!!

I remember in the '80s this gorgeous, gorgeous ER nurse--she was incredibly nice, too--came to cross-train in the OR. Certain people treated her horribly. They actually "ganged up" on her, as a group. Our charge nurse at the time (she was this old lady; about 47--LOL--younger than I am now!) said to them, when they went AGAIN to complain about what they perceived as her lack of skill: "The only thing that poor girl has EVER done to get on your bad side is to receive flowers at work from 2 different men on the same day!" It was true, too---they were consumed with thier petty jealousy. LOL, that was priceless how she put them in their places.

I, too, called that girl at home one weekend and told her, "Don't let those bi***es get to you. They are NOT worth it." I knew that she had had a particularly rough week and I knew they had made her cry, more than once. I know that my call meant a lot to her--although she had her own friends from the ER to commisserate with and who could validate that she was a really good nurse, this toxic group had made her feel that EVERYBODY in the OR disliked her and thought she was incompetent, and it simply was not true.

I think if you see one of your own co-workers treating people this way, you need to intervene in any way you can to put a stop to it. Sometimes management will, but more often they won't--they don't want to get involved. They have meetings to go to and budgets to slash, and people's feelings and mental health are of no concern to them. These people (the toxic nurses) always have secondary agendas, and those agendas are not appropriate in an opperating room--or anywhere.

stevierae · Aug 31, 2004

Policy at our facility is to "stay with your sterile table". This means if a case is delayed by an hour, and i already scrubbed and set up, i CAN break, BUT i cannot leave that room, because i cannot guarentee that stuff is going to stay sterile if i leave the room if i'm not watching it. Someoen could come in ther eand touch it and i'd never know it.

Oh, man---I HATE operating rooms like that--requiring you to do that is, in my opinion, such a sacred cow.

Suggest to them that they do what we do in most operating rooms where I've worked--if a case is delayed, break scrub, leave the room, and TAPE THE DOORS SHUT, or, if you have those signs (used to be used back in the days when we practiced strict total joint protocol--also now gone pretty much by the wayside) that say "NO TRAFFIC."

That's just ridiculous that they make you stay in a room, whether scrubbed or NOT scrubbed, "guarding" your back table. You could be doing something else--helping out in another room, picking cases, or even taking a well-deserved break.

Ask them if they can justify this in terms of infection control--do they REALLY have any literature to support this practice? That is, do they have solid evidence that breaking and rescrubbing once the case is finally back "on" leads to increased post-op infections, due to perceived compromised sterility? Or that "guarding" one's back table is a prudent practice? I have never seen any. As long as traffic to the room is limited, this is a non-issue.

angel03 · Aug 31, 2004

Oh, man---I HATE operating rooms like that--requiring you to do that is, in my opinion, such a sacred cow.
Suggest to them that they do what we do in most operating rooms where I've worked--if a case is delayed, break scrub, leave the room, and TAPE THE DOORS SHUT, or, if you have those signs (used to be used back in the days when we practiced strict total joint protocol--also now gone pretty much by the wayside) that say "NO TRAFFIC."
That's just ridiculous that they make you stay in a room, whether scrubbed or NOT scrubbed, "guarding" your back table. You could be doing something else--helping out in another room, picking cases, or even taking a well-deserved break.
Ask them if they can justify this in terms of infection control--do they REALLY have any literature to support this practice? That is, do they have solid evidence that breaking and rescrubbing once the case is finally back "on" leads to increased post-op infections, due to perceived compromised sterility? Or that "guarding" one's back table is a prudent practice? I have never seen any. As long as traffic to the room is limited, this is a non-issue.

You are so right... I have resonded the same....sacred cows are really difficult to over come in some ORs.....I'm glad you feel the sme way

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Aug 31, 2004

Well, i don't really mind it, unless i drank too much coffee, because i'm like that about my table anyway, aside from the policy.

But taping the doors doesn't always work. Someone untapped a door to a lapro room, and put the tape back on all crooked.

momg38 · Dec 23, 2004

I was just reading the postings and I am very nervous about going into the OR as a new graduate, but I have accepted the challenge. I was very happy to know that a hospital in my hometown offered opportunities and training programs to new grads.

I am sorry that others have had a difficult time getting an opportunity. I can only say keep trying because there are facilities out there that will give you a chance.

I don't have any experience and I will be graduating in May 2005. Please wish me luck. I am going in with the attitude to learn all that I can and I will be taking notes to better prepare myself each day.

Cheers,

Carolina Nursing Student, May 2005 :balloons:

Fun2, BSN, RN · Dec 23, 2004

Can new ADN grads be OR nurses, or is this reserved for BSN nurses?

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 24, 2004

ADNs can (and have).