Is it time to leave the OR?

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Jun 20, 2007

I've been circulating for 3 years and notice myself starting to wander in the classifieds for another job. I know I do a damn good job at what I do but don't feel challenged. Our hospital does not offer classes to scrub. I'm not very marketable because I don't scrub...
I miss patient contact just a little bit, but not sure if it's enough to leave the OR. But I feel very stuck.
I know I could get another job in nursing easily, but as a perfectionist, feel that leaving equals failure in some way. Would it seem like I wasted all that time learning to circulate if I left?
Anyone left the OR and then came back?

I don't think it would be a waste, after all you will always have those circulating skills and OR knowledge that can serve you well no matter where you go. I also think you could leave and come back if you wanted to. I think you have to follow what your gut is telling you. The other thing you could do is look for an OR that would be willing to train you to scrub. A lot of scubbing is just practice, practice and more practice. Any chance that if you have extra staff at your OR on any given day, that you could second scrub? Ask them and see if theyd let you do that. I don't think you'd need a class. Many scrubs received OTJ training back in the day(nurses too).

NurseRoRo · Jun 21, 2007

I've asked about scrubbing in when there's extra staff, and well, there's been some tension with nurses wanting to scrub. I get the feeling the CSTs feel threatened. And our supervisor is very wishy-washy (one day she's all for teaching us to scrub, the next day, she says we should maybe think about going to CST school if we want to scrub). Let's just say management in this OR isn't very supportive...just make the docs happy and keep the cases coming in. Blech. I think you're right...my gut is telling me to move on. Thanks for letting me vent.

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Jun 21, 2007

Wow, you have my sympathies..I was a tech for quite a few years before getting my RN, and some of the techs have been snippy ever since. Which I don't understand because I am not the type of person to pull the superiority thing. My place trains all the OR nurses to scrub and I think it's terrible that your hospital doesn't allow it. That kind of mentality makes me mad-you have employees that want to broaden their horizons and learn new things and administration smacks them down. Not right-heck, in my OR sometimes we are so short staffed that I've had to scrub in and give a tech a meal break, for which they were very grateful...You sound like an ambitious self determined sort...find an employer that will recognize that.

passionate · Jun 25, 2007

If you think you might really like to scrub but don't have an environment that supports it you might want to look into a surgical technology program. Not all of them are for a degree. Alot of the nurses I work with go to a program that is about 12 weeks long and utilize the techs in our OR as the "experts" It can work! I was a hospital trained tech and wow, I am still putting sauve on the bites I got from the RN staff at the time. Now, having been an RN for 25 years I don't let my fangs show!:trout:

Itshamrtym · Jul 12, 2007

I've been circulating for 3 years and notice myself starting to wander in the classifieds for another job. I know I do a damn good job at what I do but don't feel challenged. Our hospital does not offer classes to scrub. I'm not very marketable because I don't scrub...
I miss patient contact just a little bit, but not sure if it's enough to leave the OR. But I feel very stuck.
I know I could get another job in nursing easily, but as a perfectionist, feel that leaving equals failure in some way. Would it seem like I wasted all that time learning to circulate if I left?
Anyone left the OR and then came back?

I feel your pain!! I've only been circulating for 1.5 years and feel the same way that you do. I don't really feel challenged. I don't feel that I'm really growing as a nurse in the OR circulating role. We have a ton of techs @ my hospital, nurses hardly ever scrub. You didn't waste your time at all!!! Every experience that we go through teaches us something. I also think that you are very marketable being a circulating nurse. This is very sought after by employers. But I do think that if you did/could scrub on a regular basis then,,,whoooo, even better. You are in no way, size shape or form a failure if you leave. Listen to your gut/heart?? What are they telling you. People leave and come back all of the time. Maybe if you did leave you would realize that your passion lies in the OR. I can tell you that I work with very talented scrub techs and they tell me that they would never further their education to be a OR nurse (circulator). They tell me that they want to scrub, not be a glorified secretary. I hear that the VA is a great place to work. I think you flip flop roles for each case. The benefits are second to none. Check out the 12 week class that someone else was speaking of. That sounds very attrative. Why would you want to go to school for 1-2 years to learn how to scrub. Or you could go somewhere where you could get more OJT for it. I say go for it. Find a way to make your desires happend. Good luck to you and keep us posted. It has been about 1 month since your reply, heck you might already been working in the ER or something..............

passionate · Jul 13, 2007

I work as a perioperative RN (circulating) in an OB dept. I am having a very hard time staying upbeat and challenged. I was brought in to precept but that really never got off the ground and the OB nurses circulate in other hospitals and felt disrespected by my teaching them something they already know. I feel badly that our surgical patients may not be getting the same "perioperative" experience as those patients in the main OR. Any ideas on how to keep on or do I need to re-ernter an OR with nurses who think like I do?

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Jul 13, 2007

I work as a perioperative RN (circulating) in an OB dept. I am having a very hard time staying upbeat and challenged. I was brought in to precept but that really never got off the ground and the OB nurses circulate in other hospitals and felt disrespected by my teaching them something they already know. I feel badly that our surgical patients may not be getting the same "perioperative" experience as those patients in the main OR. Any ideas on how to keep on or do I need to re-ernter an OR with nurses who think like I do?

You might be in for a tough fight-many OB nurses do not think of CS as "real" surgery. The optimistic side of me says "keep trying". My realistic-becoming progressively more cynical side says"don't waste your time".

passionate · Jul 20, 2007

Dear WitcheyRN--

The "don't waste your time" is the place I have been visiting in my sleep. I really wanted this to work because I believe that the surgical experience should be equal in the OR or OB. Gosh, this is hard to swallow!!!

mikethern · Aug 20, 2007

You have one life. Don't waste it doing something you don't like. If you don't like you life, change it.

FLAreN · Aug 20, 2007

I understand how you feel...I felt the same way. I was an ER nurse before I became an OR nurse so I knew that the grass wasn't greener on the other side. None-the-less, I did miss the patient interaction and I also felt I was losing my nursing assessment skills. Thus, I just opted to get a per diem position so that I could still have that interaction and challenge.

I will say to you that I did decide to leave the OR, not because I was totally over it, but because I had to in order to advance my career goals and I missed being in the OR. There is a different work atmosphere, mental process, and execution of things there. No, things weren't perfect but there was a certain level of autonomy of being in control of your room and managing one case at a time that is unique to the OR that fit my personality.

If you have never worked somewhere else, I would highly suggest you go and see how it truly is before you make a big decision because there are good things and bad things about all departments IMO. Unfortunately, you won't know until you experience it for yourself.

Good luck! I hope you find something that will challenge you and keep your interests. It took me a while, but that's the beauty of nursing...you can go whereever you want.