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Hi everyone I'm in need of some serious advice. I'm a new grad and I have 2 job offers on the table one is an OR RN position that is 9 minutes away from my house. Indo their periop 101 and have to sign a 2 year contract after. It's at a small community hospital and after that I choose the schedule I wanna work. There's no weekends and no holidays. There will be on call at times. Then I have a pediatric RN position for a larger health system that is 25 minutes away from me. Is 3 12 hours shifts 7a to 7p and Every other weekend and some holidays. This position will train me in peds nicu and PICU and mother baby just in case I need to float over there if they bare short staffed but me floating there won't happen often since all the staff on my unit is on the floater schedule for that.  I did a site visit and the staff was amazing at both hospitals. The pay equals out to be the same. I guess as a new nurse I'm not sure what I'm getting into with either but I know I'm interested in both. Sometimes I also hear horror stories about the OR surgeons so that's a bit scary. I would love any advice anyone has to give. Thanks sooo much in advance 

Specializes in Community health.

You had me at "9 minute commute"!!

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Specializes in Oceanfront Living.

I devoted the best part of my career to the OR.  Three years were working in every specialty.

Then I was hired in another state to work Pediatric and Adult open hearts.  I loved it and I hope you will choose the OR.  As another poster stated, you only have one patient at a time.  

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Specializes in ER, Occupational Health.
Rose_Queen said:

Some feedback I've heard from some of the new grad residents: based on what they're hearing from their cohorts, they would never work anywhere else but the OR. Breaks and lunches are guaranteed, relief is 98% guaranteed on time (there are days one or two  volunteers to stay until their surgery is finished will be recruited)- they just feel like it's a better work life balance. 

Pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

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Specializes in ER, Occupational Health.
Miss_Rose said:

LOL no they were smart about that. The 2 years doesn't start til after I finish my periop training but I will be paying attention to the staff and asking open ended questions to see what they spill 

This actually sounds like a better deal to me.  You will have your entire training period to decide if you like the OR well enough to stick with it without being under contract, and no obligation on your part to stay for 2 years if you leave during that time.

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You guys have all been so amazing!!! Thank you for the advice. So here's a funny update. I shadowed the pediatric unit and loved it there even though it was a little further and I wasn't a fan of the 2 year commitment for the OR position. I started getting comfortable with the idea of working on the pediatric unit and then yesterday the hospital with the OR position contacted me and told me that they made a change and they're not requiring the 2 year contract commitment for now. They said they put it on hold because they're trainer just left a few days ago. So if I did come on board I would do the online periop program and I would just shadow the nurses that are working for 6 to 8 months. So now the 2 year commitment being removed changes things. Do you guys think this is a good deal? Or a bad one? Will it be bad for me to come on board and them not have a trainer and just shadow and learn from the nurses? Oh I forgot to mention I was looking at the reviews for this hospital and the nurse reviews were mixed but there was a little more bad than good. 

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Miss_Rose said:

So if I did come on board I would do the online periop program and I would just shadow the nurses that are working for 6 to 8 months.

Doable, but far from ideal. Having been in a system that did it this way and now being in a system that has the comprehensive program, hands down comprehensive program is waaaayyy better

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New grad nurse here. Run, don't walk, and go sign the OR contract as quickly as possible. Safest bet for your license, guaranteed breaks, work/life balance is amazing, the job is dead easy once you get the hang of it, orientation is LONG, and it is one of the #1 specialties for lucrative travel contracts. 

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Specializes in Pediatric OR Nursing.

This thread is 2 weeks old but I figured I would comment.

I agree with others, I would take the OR job. You will always be with a preceptor for 6-8 months and by the end of orientation you should feel comfortable or at least know who your resources are to contact when you have questions. Guaranteed breaks for lunch and you usually get to leave on time. You don't have to spend a half hour after your shift finishing up charting and giving detailed report to the person taking over all your patients. No holidays or weekends for you is a bonus. And you're 9 minutes away when on call. Plus since it's a small community hospital, you will probably do a lot of basic elective cases. Nothing too crazy!

And horror stories about surgeons are just stories. The majority of surgeons I've encountered are all very nice. And usually if they are angry or frustrated it's not at you but the situation at hand. 

I work in a level 1 peds OR and have 9 years of experience. I could not imagine myself working on the floor. Orientation may be long for the OR but they want to make sure you are competent to be on your own. There are good days and bad but in the end it has been super rewarding working in the OR.

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Specializes in OMFS, Dentistry.
kinbari08 said:

This thread is 2 weeks old but I figured I would comment.

I agree with others, I would take the OR job. You will always be with a preceptor for 6-8 months and by the end of orientation you should feel comfortable or at least know who your resources are to contact when you have questions. Guaranteed breaks for lunch and you usually get to leave on time. You don't have to spend a half hour after your shift finishing up charting and giving detailed report to the person taking over all your patients. No holidays or weekends for you is a bonus. And you're 9 minutes away when on call. Plus since it's a small community hospital, you will probably do a lot of basic elective cases. Nothing too crazy!

And horror stories about surgeons are just stories. The majority of surgeons I've encountered are all very nice. And usually if they are angry or frustrated it's not at you but the situation at hand. 

I work in a level 1 peds OR and have 9 years of experience. I could not imagine myself working on the floor. Orientation may be long for the OR but they want to make sure you are competent to be on your own. There are good days and bad but in the end it has been super rewarding working in the OR.

I couldn't agree more! I love it so much that I plan on getting my NP at some point to work better with surgeons. ?

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OMG you all are so amazing with the advice I cant thank you all enough. Long story short I ended up declining both offers I just wasn't comfortable with that 2 year contract and some things were 2 sketchy. At one point they said I wouldn't need to sign one and when I was accepting the position I asked to have that in writing and in my profile then all of a sudden they decided that they wanted me to sign a contract so it was just a little too back and forth. 
After I declined both positions I ended up getting a labor and delivery offer and the other one is for the OR doing cosmetic surgery and augmentations and stuff. I actually feel more comfortable about these 2 positions than the other 2. The cosmetic surgeon asked me if I wanted to come in tomorrow to shadow which I'm so happy that he did. 

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foxypaws said:

New grad nurse here. Run, don't walk, and go sign the OR contract as quickly as possible. Safest bet for your license, guaranteed breaks, work/life balance is amazing, the job is dead easy once you get the hang of it, orientation is LONG, and it is one of the #1 specialties for lucrative travel contracts. 

how long did it take you to feel like OR nursing was "dead easy?” I'm in my 6th week circulating and struggling with certain specialities (mostly cases that are quick) 

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
ktweis said:

how long did it take you to feel like OR nursing was "dead easy?” I'm in my 6th week circulating and struggling with certain specialities (mostly cases that are quick) 

It's going to take a good solid year, maybe a bit longer. It's an area of nursing that nursing school just barely touches on and doesn't give you any kind of a jump start on. It's not a quick transition. 

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