Goal Unit

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hi all,

I'm new to allnurses, I just wanted to get my fellow nursing colleagues advice on something that has been eating at me.

My first offer for an in-hospital nursing position was for the operating room. I figured I would take what was offered and eventually advance to my goal unit which is to end up working in the ICU. I have been working in the OR for almost 2 years now and feel stuck in the specialty because they are a different set of skills than usual from floor nursing. I'm feeling bummed out for not even being able to land a med/surg position. Any tips in getting out of OR to transfer to the floor?

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

Have you applied to other jobs, either within your hospital or in another facility in your area?

sssherzada

3 Posts

Specializes in OR.

Hey brillohead,

Actually I had worked at my first OR position from Sept.2014-Feb2016 and had tried multiple times to transfer within the system and had no luck because of politics since our unit was so short and the other managers did not want to step on our unit manager's toes for taking away an employee so I decided to take another OR position at a different hospital and have been there since February of this year, so I'm still in my probation stage but I plan to apply after the six months. Other than that, I've tried applying to positions in other hospitals and all I get are rejections since I have no experience working the floor :(

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

Maybe try applying for PRN work, either in a hospital, a LTC facility, or private duty through a home health agency. That will give you experience outside of the OR while keeping the safety of your full-time job, and show some diversity of skills on your resume.

It will also widen your network... nursing is a small world, and if you get a good reputation working with Supervisor A at ABC facility, that might be enough to get your foot in the door with Supervisor X at XYZ facility down the road.

+ Add a Comment