Help advise needed

[ORtech to ORnurse]

Hello,

So I was a tech for many many years. Now I am a nurse and it's been about six months or so I relocated to start my new position as an Operating room nurse. I thought it was going to be the easiest transition and that I was going to love it............

Well that is not the case. I miss being involved in the actually surgery.

I DIDN'T GO TO NURSING SCHOOL TO ANSWER PAGES AND RUN ALL OVER THE HALLWAYS FOR THINGS THAT SURGEONS "SAY" SHOULD BE ON THEIR PREFERENCE CARDS!!!!!!!!!!

I am feeling more confident in my abilities to provide great pt care. I am just not HAPPY!

I love my co workers, I love the way we are all a team. Some of the doc's make it a great day and makes you glad to come to work. Others just want to make you chop off your own arm so you can spend the day away from the OR.

My current hospital is currently short staffed and and it's starting to get harder and harder to do daily tasks. Just as having enough people to move at pt, can take a while.

I feel bad cause this is a new grad program and I had extra training.

I think that because I have been in the OR for so long I think it's time to try something else. I am liking PACU just cause I would be around a lot of the same co workers who I really like. But to today I talked to a Icu nurse and she said that they are always looking for new people and that I could follow her for a day to see it I like it.

I can't really do anything for a while since I am still under contract.

Just want people's thoughts..... At this point, I would do anything.... Med/surg, tele, pcu, icu, pacu, er. I just want to try to be a nurse and see how that goes... I just don't think that the skills I use in the operating room are skills that most nurses use and I would like to try those nursing skills....

Thank you for listening to me.

A

[TakeTwoAspirin, MSN, RN, APRN]

I was a tech also who transitioned to becoming an OR Nurse so I do understand what you are saying. For me, the decision to go into the nursing role was more of a requirement than a desire to do something other than be at the sterile field. I always loved being a tech, but because of some chronic medical problems I understood that I would not be able to be a tech for the remainder of my career in the OR. While I do like circulating (most days), I still do scrub and first assist the occasional case which I enjoy (although it does usually leave me in pain afterwards). I think once you get proficient as a circulator you will find that there will be opportunities for you to scrub in but they want you to focus for now on the new role of circulating. Most facilities like the flexibility of someone who can circulate and scrub, but they probably won't offer you that while you are so new in the circulating role.

I also work PRN as a PACU and pre-op nurse which is something you might want to consider once you have some experience. I really do like being in PACU because you feel like you are using a different skill set that is more akin to "traditional nursing" - whatever that means these days.

Whatever you do, remember the grass isn't always greener. There are jerks in all departments of the hospital. At least in the OR we are only usually dealing with one jerk at a time, lol.

[kguill975, MSN, APRN, NP]

I was a scrub tech that went to nursing school, but I watched the circulator run around like a chicken with their head cut off, so I knew what I was getting myself into. Went on to become a Surgical NP, and while I hate rounding, I still love to scrub in to assist. Like the PP, the grass isn't always greener, but the money is. I think it's a shame that techs don't make more, if they did, I don't know if I would have become a nurse.