Interested in OR Nurse

[mjcornnielies]

I am in school at the moment to become a nurse and I would really love to go into OR nursing once I graduate. I start clinicals soon, and was wondering since I haven't started clinicals yet would I still be able to get a student nurse internship? Anything else I need to know would be helpful.

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

There are no internships at my hospital for OR nursing. You can, however, usually go into training (at least 6 months) and work there as a new grad.

[katkonk, BSN, RN]

With the economy the way it is, almost all nursing internships that I know of have been phased out. There used

to be quite a few in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, since most of the hospitals there are mega-teaching hospitals. As the previous post said, there are some hospitals that will hire you to work in the OR as a new grad with a training program for that area, but they are difficult to find. As far as a student nurse externship in an OR area, I have never seen one, only students working as CNA's or transport techs in surgical services while in school. The university that I attended in the Texas Medical Center offered an elective 10 week summertime course in OR nursing, and I took it (but that was 16 years ago). It has been invaluable in my career, even though I decided that I didn't want to do OR nursing. In the course you were trained in everything; from different sutures that are used, to scrubbing in and passing instruments, to circulating. Very valuable training. You might scout out various schools that offer elective courses that may be similar. And, heaven knows, there are likely some hospitals out there still offering the internships for new grads...it may just take a lot of searching.