ER to OR????

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Hello everyone! I am an RN of about 5 years now (will be 5 years in June). About 3 of those years have been in ER. For personal reasons, I am just completely burnt out of ER and am currently looking for another job. There is an opening at our local magnet hospital for an OR position, which includes a very long fellowship program to introduce nurses to the operating room. I have put in an application but would like some insight on what life is like for operating room nurses. Thank you!

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Hello @Valkyrie93! There are two threads that I generally point those asking about life in the OR to:

I hope that gives you some insight!

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Specializes in Endoscopy/Operating room.

Welcome to the possibility of being an OR nurse! I came to the OR right after I graduated. I did my practicum in the ED and I was a tech there while I was in nursing school. To say the least it was exciting and exhausting at the same time. So , I understand the need for the transition. I love the OR. The schedules are better, there is only one patient at a time and they are sleeping for the majority of it. It is however, extremely different. It is like working in an alien universe. Nothing in nursing school or the other places I have worked could have prepared me for the OR. The experience is helpful sure but, it is so highly specialized here. The fellowship/orientation needs to be long. There is a lot of tech, instruments, equipment ect. My best advice is to make sure you give the OR an adequate amount of time to acclimate to. It takes 1-2 years to truly be comfortable here. I am still learning every day and the hard days are fewer now with the good days being many. I really enjoy working here and the predictability of the schedule too. In the ED as soon as you get rid of one pt your given another. I wish you the best and I hope you join our community!

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Specializes in Main O.R. and CVOR.

 

RN1.618, RN is correct.  It's a whole different world other than nursing in other areas where school or other depts can prepare you.   As RN1.618 said, give it about 2 yrs to truly comfortable where you can anticipate needs of the O.R. team.  Doing many different cases, many start to specialize, like being mainly with Neuro cases or Ortho cases.  I'm in CVOR and love it.  I have 4 decades of O.R. exp.  Would never change it, I'd do it again.

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