Any new grads start in OR?

[Chrislynn2003]

I am a new RN grad that just started working in the OR in October. I am feeling overwhelmed and sometimes go home crying. I was just wondering how other people felt after starting in the OR. Did it take a while to get adjusted to the swing of things? Thanks for any input.

Christine

[momg38]

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

I will be an ADN grad starting in the OR.

[oneillk1]

I am a new RN grad that just started working in the OR in October. I am feeling overwhelmed and sometimes go home crying. I was just wondering how other people felt after starting in the OR. Did it take a while to get adjusted to the swing of things? Thanks for any input.

Christine

Hi, I am a new grad in OR in a hospital in Sydney, Australia. I was lucky enough to spend five weeks in OR during my RN training, and this has come in handy because I have a lot of the basic principles of OR nursing. I find that the best ways to learn are to have books to study - those showing instruments and naming them are good - and also books that go through procedures step by step - eg Alexanders care of patient in surgery. Another thing that has helped is being able to 'double scrub' (that is myself and another RN scrub for the procedure) It means that I can learn and do the procedure myself, but if I get stuck there is another nurse there so it takes away the panic!

I have found that the most overwhelming thing in OR is what I see - the open and close cases that I know will die, the emerencies, the way the doctors behave at times - it is really great if you have someone (another nurse is great) who you can go home and vent to. My housemate works in ICU so we both debrief at the end of the day. That really helps.

Karen