Med/surg to OR?

Silverdragon102, BSN · Oct 5, 2008

Moved to the OR forum

shodobe · Oct 6, 2008

No problem! I have always beeen an advocate for spending a few months if not a year on M/S. Why? I just think transitioning into nursing and getting a good feel for patient care is very important. There are those out there who disagree, but that's OK. I can sniff out a new grad with no M/S experience very quickly. Just having that short time makes a difference. I spent 9 months before I went to the OR 30 years ago. I wouldn't work again on a M/S only because I like what I do.

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2008

shodobe, can you elaborate on what you like about your job? I'm considering a move to OR nursing, but I need more info. The two days I had following a circulator back in nursing school didn't really give me as much of a feel for things as I'd have liked.

shodobe · Oct 7, 2008

The wide variety of cases, the skills that you need are far beyond,IMHO, than typical nursing. I like the close, most of the time, camadaire that you get with alot of surgeons. I spent my early days just having to put up with the superiority complex alot of MDs have. Surgeons tend to put you on a different level than floor nurses. They expect a lot from you and you give them what they need, someone who knows what they are doing. It seems most of the time the surgeons are getting all over floor nurses for what they aren't doing as opposed to what they should know what to do logically. I have always scrubbed and circulated, this is what makes a complete OR nurse. Most RNs now a days don't get that oppurtunity to learn how to scrub, this is very sad. I think bottom line is the team work that you experience between surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses. I personally, and haven't really seen it, seem that it doesn't really exist on most M/S floors. I am sure it is different in other hospitals. Following a circulator for two days won't give you much of a feel of OR life but just a taste.

Booty Nurse, BSN · Oct 7, 2008

I worked on med-surg for 4 1/2 years, and moved down to the OR in January. I like it much more than med-surg. I should note that I am not a "real" OR nurse; I work mostly in the procedure room within the OR, doing mostly colonoscopies, EGDs, and some local anesthesia cases. I also help out in bigger surgical cases and am working towards being a second nurse in the PACU.

The biggest difference for me is that in the OR, you have one patient at a time. On the floor, you are constantly pulled in different directions by patients with different needs. I also found the floor depressing after a while, seeing the same chronically ill patients who were never going to get better, having elderly patients facing a move to a nursing home, or caring for young dying cancer patients. It wore me down. Also, in my small hospital, the OR staff is a more cohesive group of co-workers; on the floor, there was a lot of infighting between different shifts.

I really like the OR. Maybe you could spend a day shadowing a circulator?

$fracturenurse$ · Oct 7, 2008

I worked on a Med/Surg floor for a year and a half before going to the OR 10 years ago. It's really a different type of nursing, but I wouldn't do anything else. I agree with the above post, if you can get the OR director to let you buddy up with a circulator, you'll get a feel for it. Good luck!

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Oct 8, 2008

Thank you all for your responses. Food for thought! Right now I feel like I'm putting in my time before I move on. I'm just not sure where I want to move on to. I had always pictured myself in the OR, but going through NS, I found my passion in cardiac nursing. Now that I've been doing it for a little over a year now, I'm feeling like it's not where I want to be in the long run.