New grad - did I choose the wrong specialty?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello everyone! This is my first time using a nursing forum but I am in need of some advice!

I am a new graduate and I have just started my first job in the OR. I'm lucky to have a job, and I am blessed with great coworkers and management team. Although I've only been in the OR for a short period of time (I'm still orienting), I feel like I'm losing all of my assessment and clinical skills. I did my senior internship in a cardiovascular ICU and I find myself missing that environment so much. I miss the challenges and constant stimulation. The OR presents entirely different challenges and a unique learning curve. I have so much respect for my coworkers who have a passion for the perioperative environment. I thought I wanted this route based on my nursing school experiences but I think it's not a good fit for me.

Has anyone experienced a similar feeling of wanting to jump ship so soon into their first nursing job? Do I bite the bullet for a few years (and risk losing more clinical skills?) or do I try to switch into the ICU residency program? The hospital I'm at also offered me a job in their ICU that I turned down at the excitement of new challenges in the OR. Silly me!

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Specializes in ICU.

Stay Put unless you can't get out of bed to go to work because you hate it that much.

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Yup. Spent a year on a urology surgical floor before nearly taking a job in a supermarket i hated it that much... Went to ICU and stayed doing different types of ICU ever since. Having said that, i hated ICU for a good while too, but then things kind of clicked and i started to enjoy it. The background in urology came in handy when we had someone with a big prostate that needed attacked with a 20ch Foley and everyone else had failed to pass it.

So give it a good chance first... dont worry about losing skills so early in your career, because you will be gaining skills. Even if you only do six months, you will have gained knowledge of how the OR works and what happens during operations - which will give you insight on how to best look after them post op in the ICU.

Besides that, it'll be different when you're done orientating and have your own autonomy and what not. Being junior mostly sucks, being senior and mostly knowing what you're doing sucks a lot less.

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Specializes in Critical care.

There might not be a position in the ICU for you anymore. You turned down that offer and it most likely went to somebody else. I'd stick with the OR and really give it a chance. You don't want them to let you go during orientation if you voice your displeasure- you don't want to end up with no job.

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Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.

No... I went to nursing school specifically to work in the OR... I'll never do anything else !! I love the intensity, I love the completion I feel when the wound is closed, PT waking up, and another one done ✔...I love the relationships you form with your fellow nurses, techs , surgeons and anesthesiologists..I love how we all are on a first name basis... I can talk completely freely to my surgeons... and them me... I can put them in line when they get cranky , and out of hand...it's nice to have that trust in you professionally from some of the best surgeons there is around... .. I love how things can be a literal matter of a patient bleeding out on the table ..... BUT.... *I* know HOW to FIX IT... it's incredibly gratifying...I love the teamwork, I get professional and personal gratification when the most miserable surgeon throws a fit because he wants me in his room.. I love the fact that , the patient under those drapes is safe because of me in a lot of ways... and one of those ways, which I realize is a downfall for some-- is simply keeping my surgeon calm, happy , and confident that he has WHAT, and WHO he needs when and if things go south ..... because, who wants a pissed off irritated surgeon operating on them? I don't - and I don't allow it for my patients!! 12, 15 hour cases, the relationships you forge, the trust you earn ✔ oh and the conversations/ jokes... too funny!!! It's not for everyone, I'll admit .... it's a different universe beyond those double doors, but I'm never going back !!!

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