Kudos to OR Nurses!

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Specializes in Skilled Nursing/Rehab.

I am a 1st year nursing student who had the opportunity to observe a total knee replacement surgery today. It was a great experience, and I just have to say, "KUDOS!" to all of the OR nurses out there!!!

I was blown away by the level of teamwork and respect I witnessed between these nursing colleagues. They worked closely together to prepare and position the patient's body, don sterile garb, set up the sterile field, and then to stay focused and on task during a 1.5 hour procedure! Sometimes their coordinated movements seemed almost like a dance to me (a former music teacher). It was incredible.

Teamwork is one of the skills that I need to improve on, as I have always been a "do it myself" kind of girl... I have never been into playing team sports, so those kinds of things don't inspire me to be a team player. But now I have a concrete example of excellent teamwork in nursing to strive for!

I admire your skills and I am so glad I got to witness you in action today!

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Specializes in Operating room..

I love the OR. It's the only reason I became a nurse. Am trying to decide whether or not to move on...such a hard decision.

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Specializes in Skilled Nursing/Rehab.

MereSanity - what other area are you considering?

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Specializes in OR Hearts 10.
I love the OR. It's the only reason I became a nurse. Am trying to decide whether or not to move on...such a hard decision.

I left to the floor for about 7 months....BIG MISTAKE....

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Specializes in Operating room..

LTC....good pay and benefits but it is hitting me more and more that even though I HATE parts of my job...I AM an OR nurse. I love the OR. Sigh. Just hate my employer. I have a few weeks to figure this out. I'm afraid I will regret it.

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Specializes in PACU, OR.
LTC....good pay and benefits but it is hitting me more and more that even though I HATE parts of my job...I AM an OR nurse. I love the OR. Sigh. Just hate my employer. I have a few weeks to figure this out. I'm afraid I will regret it.

LTC??? How on earth have you been coping? I did my share of LTC, also psych and frail care back in the way back when but you couldn't torture me out of the theater complex now!

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MereSanity is the pay and benefits WORTH being happy, just a thought.

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Specializes in OR Hearts 10.

I was going to work part time LTC about 8 years ago, had to spend about $200 on licencing, fingerprints and all that. Stayed for 3 hours. Good luck in whatever you decide, but I would recommend keeping your foot in the door by going PRN if possible. That's what I did last year when I went to the floor.

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Specializes in Skilled Nursing/Rehab.

@MereSanity - are there any other nearby medical facilities where you could work in the OR, thereby keeping the job you love and leaving the employer you hate? It might be worth a little drive to be able to do what you love in a better environment.

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Specializes in Operating room..

There just aren't too many options in this area as far as OR work goes. Very few and far between as far as open OR jobs...LOTS of positions open in the bad facilities though :( Turnover rates are staggering. Waiting for an opening in a decent facility may never happen. Thank you to everyone for the great input...it has given me a lot to think about.

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Specializes in OR Hearts 10.

The only thing that I know of that people loved after leaving the OR was Home Health. I have 3 friends that are doing that now. Not sure what it is, maybe just the one pt at a time.

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There just aren't too many options in this area as far as OR work goes. Very few and far between as far as open OR jobs...LOTS of positions open in the bad facilities though :( Turnover rates are staggering. Waiting for an opening in a decent facility may never happen. Thank you to everyone for the great input...it has given me a lot to think about.

Sorry to hear that! Nowhere is perfect, no job ever will be "ideal" always. I like my job most days, love it fairly often and the bad (truly bad) days are pretty rare (*knocks on wood* - some of that is dependent on patient acuity). I like the OR a lot more than neurology/neurosurgery stepdown/tele with med/surg patients thrown in to the mix and with med/surg acuity staffing ratios despite how much of a "sickie" your 1-3 stepdown patients may be.

Is is possible to travel? I know a lot of OR staff that found the fit they wanted from travel positions and just never left that last travel position after being offered a permanent job (quite a few did that in the OR I work in). Wishing you the best!

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