Any new OR nurses out there?

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Hi,

I graduated in December, passed boards 2/2 and will start an OR internship next week. I'm curious to hear from any new grads starting out in the OR: what's your background, what is your orientation like, and if you've already started, do you have any tips?

I worked for 2.5 years at the same hospital's Level 1 ED as a tech, just worked my last day last Tuesday (yep, still worked as a tech after passing boards!). Our OR internship is 6 months, mainly training to circulate. They are supposed to also have a 3 month scrub class later on, maybe in late fall or next January.

Good luck to everyone!

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I too graduated in December, just passed my boards 3/2 and my first job as a nurse is in the OR. I really like it. The things I find most challenging are: pleasing the doctors/surgeons. Sometimes that can be a task, but overall most are manageable. The second thing is learning positioning and what each service uses. I too orient for 6 months. So far, I really, really enjoy it. Best of luck to you!

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Specializes in Home Health, Primary Care.

I graduated in June, started working in a cardiothoracic unit in the same month but grew to not like the shift. So I'll also be starting in the OR on Monday. No holidays or weekends!! Can't wait....Mine is also supposed to be 6 months long, mainly circulating, as this hospital uses surg techs mainly for scrubbing, but we will be trained to scrub just in case. Looking forward to hearing how other people's experiences go.

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LadyT618,

Keep me posted your OR orientation, how you like it, and what you're doing. Our hospital (teaching university, is yours too?) also has a lot of scrub techs, so the opportunity to scrub isn't great here either. Supposedly we'll get a 3-mos scrub class "down the road" but it's not a definite thing. I hope so, as I really want to scrub.

I almost accepted a position in our hospital's CCU or CTICU, but at the last minute decided to go with the OR. My only concern with the OR was that I would have a hard time switching to another area if I didn't like it, and although some OR nurses told me not to worry and go for it, others said to get clinical experience first.

So just to ease my mind, I contacted some hospitals in NC and FL, where we're looking at relocating in 18 mos, and they were all enthusiastic about me interviewing for CTICU or ED after having 1 yr in OR. Maybe my 2.5 yrs as a tech in our ED helps.

What didn't you like about your CT unit? Was it being on night shift? Is your hospital using the AORN's perioperative orientation modules? I believe we are. BTW, I'm a New Yorker too, from upstate NY, outside Albany.

My orientation starts this week too!

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Specializes in Home Health, Primary Care.

I definitely will. My hospital is indeed a teaching hospital. Perhaps the reason they would like you even with OR experience, is maybe you know that the patient goes through before they get to the ICU or what they may have to endure prior to getting to the OR from the ER (i.e., you're better equipped to teach and inform the patient).

Anyway, I hated 12-hr nights. It was slowly killing me. I just could not take it anymore. I hated the life of Dracula. So I decided I had to make a change before I started hating nursing. Thank God there are so many things to do in nursing.

My hospital is using the AORN curriculum. I'm a city gal, from Brooklyn!!!

Keep me posted!!

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Hey LadyT618,

I admit that having to go to night shift in CCU/CTICU was the final factor in my decision to go to the OR. New grads are never offered day shifts in the ICUs at my hospital (or any that I know of) and it could be a long time before getting a day shift. I understand this, but I just couldn't wrap my head around working nights. Since I was already leaning towards the OR, it made my decision a lot easier.

And I know what nights are like: I worked nights on and off in my 2.5 years in the ED as a tech, and it was horrible. I'm just not a night person. I love getting up early (I get up as early as 4a or 430a and go to the gym, walk my dogs etc.) Plus, with my husband on day shifts in the ED, we'd never see each other. I love that I can work days in the OR, and don't mind working 8-hr shifts. Plus, the OR is like the ED: we have 12's, 8's, 10's, etc. so there's a lot to choose from.

Hooray for the diversity of nursing!

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Specializes in Home Health, Primary Care.

Yeah, new grads always seem to get the crappy end of the deal. No fair!!! Thank goodness for the OR.......ooohhh, the flexiblity!!!

Another thing is if I want a husband, how would I find one if I'm stuck in a hospital working all night and home sleeping all day? That would be no good.

Anyway, can't wait till the end of this week (after all the initial boring orientation stuff). Talk to you soon.

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You know, I totally understand that more senior experienced nurses should have their shift preference over new grads. However, it also seems an unbalanced way to staff the dept. For example, in the ED, almost all new grads are on nights and all experienced nurses are on days. And it can be pretty hairy when a lot of trauma comes rolling in, and all we have are new nurses with no or very little experience. I think management should keep a few new grads on days and visa versa to balance out the experience.

I hadn't even thought about dating and I can imagine it would be almost impossible working nights. It's tough in general to have a life when you work nights. I know some people really love the extra money, but I'll give up the money to have a normal life.

In some units, like our hospital's SICU, personnel changes so quickly that you wouldn't have to work very long to get a day shift. Of course, I don't really want to work in a unit that has people coming and going so frequently, it doesn't seem to say a lot about that unit.

Since I'm a new grad, I start the nursing orientations tomorrow, they run for 3days (can't figure out how it gets dragged out that long..?!) and then my university orientation is this coming Monday. Like you, I'm looking forward to actually starting the OR part! Keep in touch

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Specializes in Home Health, Primary Care.

You bring up a good point regarding the imbalance of experience in certain units that may occur with this idea of putting all new grads on nights. I wonder if anyone has ever thought of that when it comes to patient outcomes.

The turnover rate of that SICU should be a big red flashing warning sign that one should stay far far away!!!

Anyway, general hospital orientation is over, periop nursing orientation is tomorrow.....that's when we get our textbooks!! Talk to u later.

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We start the OR officially on Tuesday, and I can't wait. Right now, we're in orientation classes for things like computer training (which I've already had as a tech so wake me up when we're done). "University" orientation is Monday, where we get to do all kinds of fun stuff like pay $300 for our parking permit (!!) and get info on health insurance, etc.

Yep, I'm glad I didn't go to SICU where probably half the staff left. I saw the "critical care staff development" person during our nursing orientation and jokingly asked why they ran off all their SICU people, and she just rolled her eyes and said don't ask.

The only reason I'd go to an ICU and work nights is to pursue CRNA school down the road, but right now I'm only focusing on learning all I can in the OR.

Only 1 more day of computer training, whoo hoo!!

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Hi Pitbullgirl & LadyT618,

I'm currently in my first yr of an A.D.N. program & very interested in the OR. I've signed up to take the LVN clinical courses this summer & sit for the NCLEX-PN licensure shortly after & continue w/ADN next yr to finish & sit for the NCLEX-RN. What position in a hospital should I pursue as an LVN, that would give me an edge at getting an OR internship? Also, how often will you be on call? Tk you & I'm so happy for both of you.

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Hi RMR-RN07,

If you want to go directly into the OR, I would recommend getting a job as an OR tech and work there through school. I had a classmate who worked as a tech in the OR full-time throughout almost all of our accelerated BSN program, although I don't recommend it. Even she had to cut back in our last semester. You would probably do better to get a PRN or part-time position while in school.

You could also work in the ED as a tech while in school. I worked for 2.5 yrs as a tech in the ED, both before, during and right after school. I worked until a week before starting as an RN in the OR. While I didn't have OR experience, they liked the fact that I'd been in the ED i.e. I had experience setting up different pieces of equipment, working in a fast pace and fast changing environment, working with difficult/tempermental surgeons and docs (and nurses!).

I'm probably biased towards the ED, but I'm glad I did the ED and not the OR. I got an enormous amount of direct patient-care experience that you wouldn't get in the OR. But again, I don't think you could go wrong with either area.

Because of change in management in the last 12-14 months, our OR lost a lot of nurses. This means we will have more on-call duties until they get the OR fully staffed again. I think we're looking at being on-call once every 1.5-2 weeks. When the OR was fully staffed, I think the nurses were on call once every 4-6 weeks. Either way, I'm fine with it because of the great training and experience I'll get at this hospital.

A final piece of advice--if you want to go directly to the OR after graduation, find an OR internship like mine or LadyT618. We both work at large university hospitals with a 6 month orientation. Some hospitals have a 9 month or 1 year orientation, which includes scrub training--even better.

Good luck!

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