Been OR nurse for 6 months..not sure Im happy.

[brindlenurse]

I began my nursing career (second degree) in ER nursing and knew almost instantly that was the wrong area for me. The patients and high stress quickly burnt me out. Switch to the OR and I loved it at first..6 months later the staff, on call requirements, distance to work are burning me out. My old ED mates joked the OR staff would be tough but my god half the time there's so much gossip or pettiness, etc. Every time I'm in the break room, people are complaining; people snap at you even knowing you're learning. We have some of the lowest on call rate in the area. Our manager constantly sends staff home the minute we're light on cases so we are forced to use our vacation time or go unpaid. Surgeons screaming is not a rarity, and if they're not screaming they whine or complain. Help, Allnurses I don't know what to do. I signed a contract for 3 years..it does include pre procedural and PACU if they allow me to switch but I just don't know...maybe it's just me?

[LovedRN, BSN, RN]

If you really need to switch, I say go for pre procedural. Does pre procedural needs to be on call? My guess would be no. The distance would be the same. But new set of people. PACU needs to be on call too. So that would not change much except people you work with. Talk to nurses who work on those areas so you will get a better picture. Know what do you want/ dont want too.

Me? I am not a morning person. No way I will work in pre procedural area. (I am PM shift by the way) I dont really like dealing with patients and their families so that's another reason. I don't like to work with medications and monitoring so PACU is out. Why am I a nurse huh? Anyway, OR is what I picked. No morning. No family. Pts always sleeping. Not a lot of meds. However I have to deal with what you wrote on the post. Except sending staffs home.

I guess you have to learn how to handle those problems. Why surgeons are complaining? Is it something you can do about it? If it's not, then it's not your problem. Tell them to talk to someone else. Staffs gossip much? Dont listen to them. I always have my headphones on when I am on break. When I am on break, I am on break from my co workers too. You get me, right?

Grass is always greener on the other side. I am on my 5th job right now. I will look for 6th one when I can't take it anymore but as of now I can handle what is coming at me. 3 years will go by very fast. Just take one day at a time. Good luck.

[MinneNurse, BSN, RN]

I don't think it's just you, a lot of what you described can be pretty typical for the OR. In general the OR is filled with strong personalities which can be difficult at times. I think you should give yourself more time, I know 6 months seems like a while but you still have 2 and half years left, at least get a year in and see how you feel. The OR is so different than any other nursing environment and it truly just takes time for you to learn and become comfortable, and for most people that can take 1-2 years, sometimes even longer. I'm newer to the OR so I know how frustrating it is when you are trying to learn and people are inpatient with you and get upset, but eventually you will become more knowledgable and through time "earn" a spot in their mind and they won't treat you that way anymore. Don't take it personal though, some people just are that way. I have seen staff get upset and yell at some of our most senior RNs because they didn't grab the right instrument or whatever.

My best advice would be to stay out of the gossip and pettiness and kill them with kindness. If you're in the break room and you wanna socialize just change the subject or say something positive. Ask people how their weekend was, how their kids are doing, etc. People like talking about themselves more than they like gossiping
See if there is anyone who likes taking call if you are allowed to give your call up. I give away most of my call because I don't like being on call and I live far away. As for low needing I don't have a lot of insight on that as I am union but my suggestion would be to try and stay as busy as possible and hopefully your manager sees your productive and doesn't send you home. I don't know what your call pay is but ours isn't much either.

[FurBabyMom, MSN, RN]

I disagree that these behaviors, the gossiping and bullying, etc., are "part of being in the OR". They may be prevalent here...but that's on us to fix it. We have gossiping - there is always some - it is health care and people are people. I've gotten good at changing the subject and encouraging people to bring it up with others directly or to direct concerns to either their, or the other person's, manager. If that doesn't work - then either listen to music or go elsewhere to eat, other than the break room, when on lunch! Find a window and some sunshine to capture!

Call is not going to be going anywhere anytime soon. It's not anybody's favorite part of the job. Being sent home early is sometimes part of it too. Floors do it too. My problem is that I seem to be "stuck" at work without relief (too many rooms running at a specific time for our evening staffing plan) or on call.

I've been in the OR well over 5 years. I thought I'd never make it to a year, let alone two or three. I did. It goes by fairly quickly. Even if you LOVE the OR, the first year sucks - there is so much adjustment.

Regarding the surgeons and their issues, do you get to scrub? If you do - learn AS MUCH as you can from that. Read them and ask questions - get at the "why" for your own understanding but maybe don't start with "why" as the question. All of our surgeons love to teach; and understanding all parts of a procedure helps significantly. Whether I'm scrubbing or circulating, I'm WAY better because I understand the rationales and what the plan is as well as what could happen. Understanding everything about the procedure helps the surgeons learn to trust you, and you also know what they'll get fussy about and avoid it happening. I love the surgeon group I work with; I know what will make each one of them get fussy. I can check those things and "fix" them before they become an actual issue.

Regarding pre op and PACU? PACU most likely will have call and pre op might depending on your facility (likelihood of call for pre increases if cross trained and can work in PACU).