Does it get better?

If you love the OR, try to hang in there. I took my first job as an LVN learning to scrub and after about 6 months of orientation I thought I'd made a mistake. It takes a long time to learn to be a proficient scrub, but once you get it, it's so much fun. It took a year or even two before I was actually comfortable with scrubbing. If you can hang in there, it will be worth it. I love working in the OR. I got my RN last May and have been learning circulating and scrubbing ever since. I can't imagine ever leaving the OR.

I have to say to stick with it. I will not lie to you...when I did my internship in the OR I almost hated it for quick a while. A lot of other nurses were rude, it was a new hospital to me, and surgeons...well you know how they are. My internship was also circulating and scrubbing and at a large teaching hospital...and there is a lot of stress trying to learn both of these jobs...plus having to get adjusted to the people you work with. I had many moments of "what was I thinking going into this?" Don't worry...I think most OR nurses felt the way you are feeling at the beginning...whether they want to admit it or not :) . After I had been in the OR for about 6 months I really didn't feel the way I started off feeling. I am still working in the OR after 3 years and still like it a lot. Hopefully the same will go for you!!! Good luck!!

i am also in month 3 of 6, at my OR we are supernumary for that first 6 months then have 6 months consolidation. we are very well supported but take today for example i was circulating for the trauma list and i was watching the operation and the scrub nurse , the surgeon was being a jerk as they can be, he had his assistant and 2 students at the table and the nurse could'nt see anything let alone pass him instruments properly, yet she was fantastic. and i thought OH MY GOD i will never be able to do that. they tell me it takes at least a year to start to feel comfortable scrubbing i think i will need 5 LOL.

i love the OR so i guess i will just hang in there and try my hardest. i am sure it must get better.

I'm a new grad LPN working as a circulator/scrub in a large teaching hospital. Most days I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew for my first job as a nurse, and I constantly feel inadequate. I'm in month 3 of a 6 month orientation period, but some days I don't tink I'll make it that long. I'm really just venting.....any positive thoughts are appreciated.

Just hang in there it will get better as you become more comfortable with your work. Curious though, what state are you in? In California LPNs are not allowed to circulate so you must be only training as a scrub? I know some states are a bit liberal when it comes to this point but I was just curious as to why your hospital allows this. Thanks

I live in Tennessee, and work at a large teaching hospital in Nashville. I have asked how it is that LPN's can circulate there, and the answers I got varied from "that's the way its always been" to "anesthesia does the meds and assessments for the most part". My understanding is that since all the charge nurses are RNs, the CRNA's are RNs, and there are loads of attendings and residents running around, its ok. I've never been asked to do anything outside my scope either scrubbing or circulating. Thanks for all the encouraging words everyone, it is much appreciated.....you're right, its getting better every week

I live in Tennessee, and work at a large teaching hospital in Nashville. I have asked how it is that LPN's can circulate there, and the answers I got varied from "that's the way its always been" to "anesthesia does the meds and assessments for the most part". My understanding is that since all the charge nurses are RNs, the CRNA's are RNs, and there are loads of attendings and residents running around, its ok. I've never been asked to do anything outside my scope either scrubbing or circulating. Thanks for all the encouraging words everyone, it is much appreciated.....you're right, its getting better every week

I would still get a clarification from your state board because the excuse that "it's the way it has always been done" doesn't cut it in my book. I think you find it less stressful if you KNOW you are doing something that is in the scope of your practice. Don't jeopardize your license just for the sake of making management happy. believe me they will not be there for you if JACHO finds this out. Protect yourself and CYA because no one else will.

excuse my ignorance but what is an LPN. in the US you seem to have so many titles . in the UK you have HCA's = health care assistants. RN/RGN for a staff nurse. in the OR we also have ODP's = operating department practitioners, these are non medically trained who assist the anaesthetist. are these similar?

thanks for any clarification

LPN stands for Licensed Practical Nurse. We are licensed nurses who provide bedside care to the pt much in the same way as a Registered Nurse, but we have a smaller scope of practice and are not allowed to perform some tasks (transfuse blood, perform some IV pushes, perform the initial assessment, and hang high risk medications, among other things). We work under the supervision of a doctor, dentist, or RN. Hope that answers your question, feel free to email me if you have more :-)