Getting your foot into the hospital OR

[RN_JuJu]

Hi everyone!

I'm what you could consider a "stale new grad." I graduated in May 2016 with my BSN, and have been having an extremely hard time landing a hospital job in California . My passion for nursing is definitely in the OR, but I have ZERO prior OR experience. My school didn't allow us to precept in the OR our senior year, so that was a bummer. Instead, I precepted on a tele floor.

I have however, been working two per diem jobs- both at two separate, independent specialty ASCs (one for pain management and the other for eyes). For the first ASC, I work as a pre-op/PACU nurse. I have mentioned to the nursing supervisor that I want to cross train into the OR, but she only gives that opportunities to full-timers (which I'm hoping she'll make me soon.). I've been at this facility since November 2016.

The other ASC that I'm working at is orienting me to be in the OR(!!) this week, which is great, but this facility is only open once a week and it's a fairly small practice that only does local injections (so no IV sedation). I started here about 2 weeks ago, and I'm also per diem at this facility. There will be days where I'll be in pre-op/recovery and not in the OR, so I'm not going to be getting much practice circulating. I am still very grateful for this opportunity though, and I'm trying not to be picky and take what I can get, but I can't help but feel like I'm wasting my time by taking these per diem jobs. (I do LOVE both these ASC jobs though. The staff are great and SO SO SO supportive!).

So I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice about what I can do to make myself more marketable? I've been applying to OR jobs at hospitals in my area and getting denied for lack of experience/qualifications. Am I even taking the right steps to land a job in an OR at a hospital by taking these jobs? Should I shoot for med-surg or some other department and try to get into an OR transition program later on down the line?

I'm getting really discouraged and not sure what I should do at this point, since OR nursing really is my passion... I've never been too fond of floor nursing.

Thank you in advance for reading and commenting! :) Sorry for the long and somewhat confusing post, lol.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

In an area where hospitals can be choosy and only want nurses with OR experience, you've got two choices as I see it: apply for any job within a hospital where you can create a reputation for yourself, and then keep an eye out for internal job postings that will accept those without OR experience, or relocate to an area where those without OR experience can get into OR positions.