Essay on why i want to become an OR Nurse

Buyer beware, BSN · Jul 21, 2016

I know the crowd will correct me if I'm wrong. But what I'm about to say is related from my personal experience with OR nursing.

When I was a student I did a clinical in a hospital that had the nurse's desk centrally located surrounded by rooms in a sort theatre in-the-round arrangement. One day as a student on this unit I heard this really loud outburst from this doctor on the other side of the room. It was my first real encounter with an out of control physician. He was berating a nurse for misuing the term swollen in describing a body part instead of, in his opinion, describing the area as edematous. Either way he was loud, demeaning and droned on and on about it.

Well the next day or so, I was asked to observe a surgical procedure. It was me and a couple of medical residents from Cornell University. It was bowel surgery on an elderly women with all the commensurate manipulation of of said anatomy, kind of like an exploration before lap technology became the standard.

After this was done a second doctor appeared with a ridgid sigmoidoscope and did his thing. This doctor was the same nurse berating doctor of a few days prior. But this time while doing the procedure he was berating the anesthetized patient on the table with her bowel exposed saying "F**K you and your F**KING son". With that, one of the medical residents turned to me and said "you're not her attorney are you?" At this remark being the dutiful, cowering, sheepish do as you're told nursing student and totally missing the pure comic genius of his remark replied with a grossed out" no not really."

This OP was my first encounter wit the OR and it has shaded my opinion of it ever since as I have seen OR nurses work long hours on their feet stage managing the pre, intra and post operative theatre of operations for many surgeons that were dictatorial, high maintenance and downright unpleasant. I always thought it took a certain type of personality to deal with that. So, no, not for me.

Now before the OR nurses start-in on me and tell me that ,on the contrary, they love their work, I'll give you that. But remember what they say about first impressions.