Med/Surg, Perioperative, OR Nurse... please explain!

moliuchick, RN · Apr 23, 2006

Hi!
I'm a pre-nursing student hoping to work surgeries some day. Sorry for the dumb questions... What are the differences between Medical/Surgical nursing, perioperative nursing and OR nursing? From reading threads, it seems that OR nurses go through more training/certification? Med-Surg nurses can work right after graduation, caring for surgical pts., but not in the OR? Will I need to start as a med/surg nurse if I want to move into OR nursing? If I'm set on surgeries, would I be better to be trained as a surgical tech? Thanks!!!

Medical/Surgery nurse, we mostly call it the "floor" nurse, that means the nurse works on the floor with patients who has all different kinds of problems. Perioperative nurse is the same as OR nurse. In the old days, we only call nurses who at at the OR as "OR nurses" because their job only covers the job in the OR but now, the OR nurses duties cover a whole wide spectrum and the name "perioperative" nurse is more appropriate.

The OR nurse can be a "circulating" or "scrub" nurse. The scrub nurse is sterile and she/he will be handling sterile instructments to the surgeon and help with surgeries. The circulating nurse is the one who does not "stand" right next to the surgeon to assist. The circulating nurse assist the entire OR team to make sure the operation is running smooth. Her job will include interviewing the patient before surgery and getting appropriate instructments for the surgery. "Perioperative" nurse will need special at least 6 months training in the OR before she can become a perioperative nurse. A Med/Surg floor nurse can be trained with an experienced nurse on the floor for about 3 months to be a floor nurse. In the nursing school, you will not get any training for being an OR nurse but you will get most of the training for being a "floor" nurse.

Most nurses who work in the OR long enough, they will lose their basic nursing skills, such as giving injection, knowing the medication, cleaning trach... because OR nursing is totally different from "floor" nursing.

Hope my explaination makes sense to you.