How long does it take to become a surgical nurse?

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Hello! I'm very interested in becoming a surgival nurse. How long does it take to become one and what are you required to do beforehand?

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

When you say surgical nurse do you mean a nurse who takes care of patients during an operation or after surgery?

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At my hospital, they currently have openings for an internship in the OR that I believe you have to only have one year of experience (or maybe even less). The internship is for 6 months and it's a combination of classroom and OR time. After the internship, you decide which area of the OR you would like to be in and on which shift- and there you go. Hope this helps!

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

At some hospitals, you can basically start in the OR as a new grad, and get a pretty legnthy orientation.

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Specializes in L&D/Maternity nursing.

When I observed in the CVOR a couple weeks ago I asked those nurses how long their training/orientation was and they said 6-9 months.

I was pretty impressed by them. Their hands were in the chest along with the surgeon and they just knew what to do without anyone speaking. It was like watching a choreographed dance.

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