Becoming an OR Nurse!

[bnhanna9]

I'm 23 and going to graduate from a Florida ADN RN program in April. I'm doing well in school and I really love nursing. I'm finishing my OB/Peds this semester, and I really thought that's what I wanted to get into. Turns out... It's NOT ! My rotation in the OR last semester was :heartbeat incredible :heartbeat and I can't stop thinking about how much fun I had !!

Where do I begin becoming an OR Nurse ASAP? I really don't want to get stuck being a floor nurse. I want to be an OR Nurse!! Where do I go from here?

HELP!!!

ANY advice is surely welcome! Thank you!

[Rylee2008, ASN, RN]

I'm finishing my RN this year and I also have a surgical tech. degree. You really don't need Med-Surg experience to be an OR nurse, but most hospitals do transfers within before a job is posted. Since OR jobs are ususally M-F and oncall, it's a saught after position. One thing I would do is buy a book that has all the surgical instruments in it. The OR nurse is responsible for counting instruments with the surgical tech. and you really need to know each one. Surgical Techs. can be hard on new nurses if they if don't know what they are suppose to be counting and the appropriate times to do so. There is also a surgical tech. book that has all the procedures in it. The nurse is also responsible a lot of the time for the positioning of patients on the OR table and gathering equipment before the surgeon gets in the room. I think that knowing the instruments and the surgical procedures would be great and it would give you an advantage at an interview. Good luck.