Floor nurse to OR nurse?

Specialties Operating Room

Published

So I have been a Med-surg PCU nurse for 3 years. I started on it as a new grad and have become very comfortable on the unit managing around 4-5 patients. We have recently changed to a internal med floor with residents which I have adapted well to the change but I do feel myself become bored/run of the mill/tired at times dealing with pts families/extreme short staff(which I know is everywhere and expected)/mandatory overtime (2 extra 12 hour shifts every 6 weeks). I currently am working 3 12 hour shifts and every other weekend. I am married and have a 10month old daughter who attends daycare twice a week.

I recently interviewed and shadowed in the vascular OR and found the change in pace welcoming compared to floor nursing. Of course with the complete 180 in the style of nursing it and it being completely unknown to me my nerves are at me. The position would have me working 4 10 hours shifts 1 on call occasionally and 1 weekend on call a month. I would be working 7 am to 5 pm which would leave more family time instead of crawling in at 8 at night and having weekend off would be nice as well.

I guess the unknown is what is making me anxious about the change and pretty much starting back at square one where on the other hand I have become so comfortable on my current unit.

If anyone has any advice or experience that is positive I would love to hear it! Thanks a ton!

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Head on over to the OR forum and check out the articles and FAQs tabs. I've got Tips for New OR Nurses over there and there are some other good threads as well.

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Specializes in RETIRED Cath Lab/Cardiology/Radiology.

Moved to Operating Room Nursing forum, hopefully someone here will help answer your questions.

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Thank you Rose_Queen for you helpful info! I guess because its so new that I am a bit anxious but excited at the same time. The nice thing is that its just a transfer within the hospital. So its not like I am having to completely start from the beginning.

Any additional positive advice and or comments are welcomed. Like I said I feel confident about a new job but I want to make sure I am doing the right thing changing jobs married with a 10 month old and having our house finished building in November. Currently my daughter in only having to go to daycare 2 times a week and switching to this new job would put her at day care 4 days a week with no change in tuition and I would be able to be home at 5pm everyday versus 8pm on the days I work plus I would get to have weekend off except for on call every 4th weekend. Sorry for blabbing on and thanks for reading my post!

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I am not in the OR but can comment on the scheduling since you mentioned that. The biggest thing I have noticed is the scheduling can vary so much. Add ons and cancellations have us making changes all day. Full time does try to stick to there 4, 10 hour days but they do ask for volunteers a lot to stay (this may be due to we are a smaller hospital with not a large staff). I also would clarify exactly how much call there is. The pace is very much hurry up and wait. If you are the one picking up your child from daycare, make sure to clarify that you have to leave by a certain time latest. I dealt with some issues of having to leave by 545 to pick up my son and sometimes not having the last patient go back until 630 even though we technically close at 5. I can walk into to a full page schedule of 8 patients and then it all go to crap if an emergency comes in or we have a bring back. So it's just really hard to predict.

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