I've gotten a couple of PMs from members asking about a job as an OR nurse. In the interests of sharing those questions with anyone interested in a career as an OR nurse, I thought I'd start a thread for those questions to be posted. I'll check in regularly and answer the ones I can, and I'm sure the other regulars here in the OR forum will share their knowledge as well.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Any advice about how to transition into the OR would be great!
Take a look at my article, Tips for New Operating Room Nurses. Basically, be prepared to have to do some studying outside of work hours, set realistic goals for yourself, and many other things that are touched on in that thread.
Take a look at my article, Tips for New Operating Room Nurses. Basically, be prepared to have to do some studying outside of work hours, set realistic goals for yourself, and many other things that are touched on in that thread.
Thanks Rose Queen. I was also wondering if you could share any advice about how to successfully find a job in the OR after coming from another specialty. Should I be looking for a periop program or will most transfers be given an adequate orientation when coming from another area like ICU?
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Thanks Rose Queen. I was also wondering if you could share any advice about how to successfully find a job in the OR after coming from another specialty. Should I be looking for a periop program or will most transfers be given an adequate orientation when coming from another area like ICU?
Regardless of new grad or experience in another specialty, anyone new to the OR needs a thorough orientation. If you apply for a job and are granted an interview, be sure to ask specifics about the structure of the orientation. Scrub and circulate or just circulate? How long does orientation last? How long will you orient in each specialty? What support measures are in place (such as educators or designated preceptors- I had a different preceptor every day)?
I have a different kind of question--I'm in school to be a CRNA and start clinicals in January. What are some things I can do to not tick off the OR nurses? If you have suggestions for the other providers let me know as well. The last thing I want to do is annoy my peers because that takes away from the care we are providing to the patient.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
What types of operations do you have to be more physically involved? Like repositioning patients? Is it mostly plastic and ortho cases?
That's going to be very dependent on the types of surgeries performed at a facility. Some types of surgeries require a lot of positioning done only once. Some types of surgeries require multiple position changes. It can also depend on scrub vs. circulate- a scrub person may spend time holding retractors or doing other tasks to help the surgeon. Sometimes the circulator is in a room so well prepared that there is no running for extra supplies; other times, the case may change and the circulator spends a lot of time running for additional supplies or instruments.
Do you ask because you have personal physical limitations?
That's going to be very dependent on the types of surgeries performed at a facility. Some types of surgeries require a lot of positioning done only once. Some types of surgeries require multiple position changes. It can also depend on scrub vs. circulate- a scrub person may spend time holding retractors or doing other tasks to help the surgeon. Sometimes the circulator is in a room so well prepared that there is no running for extra supplies; other times, the case may change and the circulator spends a lot of time running for additional supplies or instruments.
Do you ask because you have personal physical limitations?
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
What do they cover in the 6-9 months during orientation? Procedures? Instruments? Just curious since I am looking to move into the OR from the floor.
This can depend on the facility and how it chooses to structure its staffing. In mine, the only segregated specialty is cardiac. While the other OR staff may report to the neuro specialty line coordinator or the urology specialty line coordinator or the (fill in the blank) specialty line coordinator, all RNs are expected to be able to circulate all types of cases. Therefore, they need to be exposed to as many different types of procedures as possible. They spend so many weeks in general/vascular surgery, so many weeks in urological surgery, and so on. They also spend some time following a patient from admission through discharge (same day surgery patient) or from admission through transfer to an inpatient unit. More time is spent in some of our supporting departments, such as the scheduling department, shadowing with a CRNA, and spending time in the sterile processing department.
Included within that longer timeframe is what we call the "solo experience", which is a 60 day period where the nurse is transitioning from working with a preceptor (who is encouraging more and more independence up until the point of not being in the actual OR but readily available in the sub sterile room or hallway) to where the orientee is now officially solo with an experienced nurse available as a resource (actual assignment to simply be free and available to help as needed) for every three RNs who are now solo. During the solo experience, the nurse will also take call alongside another nurse, and if a nurse is needed, both will come in. This allows the nurse to experience an emergency while having an experienced RN at their side to provide guidance as needed.
I'm about 3.5 months into my orientation, so I can describe my experiences a bit. We started with three weeks of intensive classes on all the basics of the OR (sterile technique, equipment, supplies, etc.). I was hired on to the neuro team, so the next steps were to go into the OR to get on the job practice with preceptors. My department doesn't have dedicated preceptors, so I just get paired up with whoever on any particular day.
We have three different area within our neuro team: pediatric, spine, and craniotomy. I have to complete two weeks circulating and two weeks scrubbing in each area (I'm almost done with this part). Then I have a few weeks exposure to some of the other services (I believe mostly ENT and ortho), then I return to the neuro group for two more weeks in each of our three areas again.
I should add that I felt very underprepared after those first three weeks. There's a huge amount of information to learn about equipment, supplies, instruments, procedures, surgeon preferences, positioning, etc. It just takes a lot of time and effort to learn all that stuff.
I just started my OR residency (my 23rd day as a circulator) and I haven't done a lot yet but the expectations are for me to be able to run a room by myself with very little guidance/help. I have been in lots of different cases so it's not that I have just done 1 specialty since I started. I heard that some of my preceptors told my manager that I am not catching on -now I am fearful they will terminate me. How long does it take to "know it"? I am very sad about this and now have no confidence. Is there any advice you can offer me?
not to sound like a b.. but i think your preceptors are not very good ones, esp to let that get back to you and to comment after only 3 wks .. ridiculous!
Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN
6 Articles; 12,057 Posts
Take a look at my article, Tips for New Operating Room Nurses. Basically, be prepared to have to do some studying outside of work hours, set realistic goals for yourself, and many other things that are touched on in that thread.