Interested In Perioperative Nursing

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Hi there!

I'm graduating this year from the Practical Nursing program in Saskatchewan. I'm very interested in continuing on to take my perioperative course after gaining experience on a surgical floor for a year or two.

I have many questions about the career/course, so if anyone who is taking or has taken the course wouldn't mind sharing your experience would be awesome! Some of my questions are..

- What types of places can you work? (Hospital, Surgical clinic)

- What would your title be upon graduation? (I've heard ORT, Scrub Nurse, etc).

- What hours would you work at different places? (shift work, on call, mon - fri)

- What is the salary?

Any other experiences or knowledge of the subject would be helpful!!

Thank you

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Seeing as you're from Saskatchewan, have you tried posting this in the Canadian Nurses forum? I started to write a long reply, and then realized where you were from and that most of the information I'd planned on posting probably would not apply to Canada.

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Thanks, I think I'll do that! It was my first post so I'm not very familiar with the site!

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

You can ask the moderator staff to move your thread in the admin help desk rather than start a new thread.

There are several experienced members in the Canadian forum that should be able to help you. Good luck

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

duplicate threads merged and moved for best response.

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After completing the perioperative course you are titled as an LPN/ORT. Usually they sign documentation "Jane Doe, ORT".

You work in a hospital or private surgical suite. Hospital ORs are open 24/7, 365 days a year. Depends on where you are looking for work. I've seen my hospital hire full and part time ORTs and at other times, they are only looking for casual staff.

An OR Tech is qualified to scrub and circulate in the OR. In my province, they usually work as the scrub. It's a lot of standing around and you have to look at yourself and decide if you want to stand in a cold OR for lengthy periods of time working with some very challenging personalities. I know one OR tech that refuses to work a certain day of the week due to the surgeon who is booked that day and his team of regular nurses.

Salary? Look at the union contract. Usually, ORTs make around $1/hr more than a floor nurse with the same shift diffs.

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