Help me pick a surgery to observe!!

[Sbhayes09]

Ok so I'm heading to the OR on Monday for my first ever OR rotation. We only have one this semester so I want to make it count. For you students and current nurses, which of the following would you pick for your OR rotation and why? I'm personally leaning toward pediatric/neuro because I think neuro might be awesome to see but I wanna test myself in peds to see how I handle it. Let me know in the comments :)

OR Specialties

Burns

Cardiothoracic

ENT

General

GYN

Neuro

Ortho

Peds

Plastics

Robotics

Trauma

Urology

Vascular

[Medic_Murse, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Watched a boob reduction, once. I cried the entire time.

[rsbmd]

As a surgeon, I can tell you that the thing to do is try to know in advance which OR you'll attend and find out the list of cases. Read up on the cases and come up with some relevant questions. The surgeon will be highly impressed and it will make your experience far more valuable.

[RainMom]

Also be aware that you still may not get to observe the procedure you narrow your choices down to if the pt does not give permission. Where I work, depending on who the circulator is, the student may have to go to pre-op to introduce him/herself & ask permission in person.

[Serhilda, ADN, RN]

Watched a boob reduction, once. I cried the entire time.

I'm sure she was very concerned over whether or not her breasts would still appeal to men like you.

[NurseBlaq]

I saw a knee replacement during my surgery rotation and it was everything! The surgical team was awesome. They were friendly, explained things, and when I couldn't get a good view of something the surgeon was doing, a nurse explained it to me via what was on the screen. Not sure if the hospital you're going to has cameras in the OR, most teaching hospitals do, but if so, it's great.

But as a few others have said, your experience will be greatly influenced by the surgeon and his/her team.

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

Watched a boob reduction, once. I cried the entire time.

:mad:You should have watched my double mastectomy, I'm sure you would have balled your eyes out

[Stella_Blue]

Trauma if I had a choice, but I am an ER nurse! I absolutely hate sx, but when I did my rotation for school the anesthesiologist was super cool and let me stand in his spot while he read the newspaper! It was during a total hip replacement. I was at the patient's head the whole time and had front row seats basically. Luckily the surgeon was super cool too. I still have 0% for sx though. I cant stand to wear masks and gown up for that long. I get too claustrophobic.

[FDBMath, ADN, RN]

A lot depends on the facility. A teaching hospital will most likely be better than a private hospital. I was fortunate to be at a teaching hospital and got to see some great procedures (BKA, ORIF, double mastectomy and bilateral lap salpingo oopherectomy) where there was an attending walking the resident through the procedures. They were very open to questions and very helpful. The students at the private hospital didn't get to have the same experience. Be open minded and be ready to stand for a long time, possibly with a lead apron, and not see a ton because many procedures are don't through small incisions.

Good luck!

[Sandpiper12, ADN, RN]

We didn't get to pick anything our OR clinical day - they just told us what was happening and where to go. I'd have love to done something other than watch 7 colonoscopies in a row...lol.

[Samm06, BSN, RN]

I'm sure my response is late considering it's already June, however, I had the opportunity to observe a surgery as well. I was able to pick between a hip replacement and knee replacement since we were learning about rehab nursing in med-surg III. I chose to see a knee replacement. It was a pretty cool experience. I was able to watch everything from the first cut to the last stitch. I didn't even get queasy seeing all the blood or hearing the saw cut the bones. I was able to meet my patient in pre-op and followed the entire surgery through post-op and to the unit where I continued to care for the patient until my clinical day was completed. I would give anything to go through that experience again.

[Sbhayes09, ADN, RN]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Since my first choice was neuro I got to watch a lateral lumbar spinal fusion. I got to stand next to the surgeon and everyone in the room explained exactly what was happening with the graft and the approach. I asked permission before moving throughout the room and at the end the CRNA showed me all of her gadgets. It was pretty dang awesome :).

[AngelKissed857, BSN, RN]

Ask the nurse making the assignment if there is a surgeon that likes students and likes teaching. No matter WHAT the procedure is, a surgeon like that will make it the best experience.