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No. We don't have any in the OR, but when some were not busy on their clinical floor, like when we were in ob or peds and there weren't enough patients, the instructor sent some to the or and they LOVED it. Also some went to the ER and got to do lots of stuff and they were so willing to teach them in there.
Normally we don't get to go to those fun places.:)
Not all nurses have been replaced by techs. Maybe we need to get more of you to come to the OR so we can hold onto it. Ask your instructors to let you have a day in the OR. That was the only way I got to see it as a student. Had I not had that day, I would never have known what a great area it is to work in. Never hurts to ask. I'd be pleased to have any of you in my ORs.
I'm about to take a peri op elective this summer. We have 2 weeks of lecture (8 lectures) and 2 weeks of clinical in an OR (8 clinicals). I'm glad my school is offering it cause I'm interested in surgical nursing. After we are done I guess we can go work as a scrub tech in an OR from the skills that we will learn in the course.
I would double check the scrub tech thing. I doubt you would have the info and training you need to scrub surgery with the schedule you have. It takes scrub techs over a year or year and a half 5 days a week of classes and rotations to scrub. Nurses are trained over a period of months to a year to scrub. I would think you could work within the OR helping the nurses, but I doubt you would have what you need to scrub in such a short class. Never know though, maybe.
Hi! Our school includes perioperative nursing in the curriculum, 2nd semester. I actually really enjoyed it. I got to spend a day in the OR, PACU, and one in outpatient surgery. I am actually now thinking about outpatient surgery (ambulatory care) as my field, if I could manage to get a spot. Alot of them are snatched up as soon as they are available, as the schedule is
M-F, 6:30 am to 2:30 pm. I will see, still have OB (my first interest) and Peds to go!
Altra, BSN, RN
6,255 Posts
I'm curious ... does your school's curriculum include perioperative nursing? Do you have any clinical time in the O.R.?
I'm asking purely out of curiousity ... one of my instructors commented that many schools, particularly BSN programs, have eliminated O.R. material from their curriculum, partly due to the increased use of surgical techs to perform responsibilities that used to be the domain of the scrub nurse.
We had an entire unit on perioperative nursing in the Nursing Concepts II course, and we have 2 clinical days in the O.R. and 2 days in outpatient surgery.