Nervous about the changing to OR

V-Neck T-Shirt · Feb 28, 2014

I don't have any words of wisdom for you, but I wanted to let you know I feel for you. I've been an adult tele/PCU nurse for just over 4 years now, but I shadowed in the pediatric OR today. It was a completely different world from the floor. Thinking about making such a drastic change is nerve-wracking. I know I'll have to do a lot of weighing of pros and cons and talking to other nurses before I know if I'll even want to apply for a position there.

MadpeysRN · Feb 28, 2014

Thanks I have been weighing the pros and cons for quite some time now. Researching as much I can. I've learned two things. 99% of the time if you ask an OR nurse-they love there job. If you ask someone not in the OR they tell you not to do it. I've only done bedside for a little over a yr and I know I do not want to do it for very long. I'm the type that I think I will excel in the OR. I'm good at anticipating needs. I want to love my job, like all the OR nurses I've talked to. I've interviewed for positions in the OR and I got to say waiting to hear something is the hardest part. I want this so bad I can taste it, I've been through several interviews and I don't know how much more of the dangling fish I can take

V-Neck T-Shirt · Mar 1, 2014

Good luck! I hope it goes the way you want it to.

RNGuy12 · Mar 1, 2014

I'm not surprised that you've heard about surgery what you've heard. It's an area you either love or you hate and you figure it out fast.

I started in labor and delivery and I've just completed cross training in the OR and have been circulating on general cases for about 3 months now while floating back up to L&D when I'm needed or we have lack of work in the OR (we're relatively small). I don't think you're limiting yourself by transitioning to OR. You can work in surgery clinics, train to be a RN first assistant, move on up into management, transfer to cath lab, etc.

I'll be perfectly honest and say that I'd be stretching the truth if I said I loved it, but to be fair, my facility lacks certain "amenities" such as stable leadership (clinical directors rotate in and out) and the call can be brutal since our circulator staff is small compared to other facilities in the area. For the most part, I enjoy the work.

A lot of nurses who don't work in the perioperative setting seem to think that what we do isn't "real" nursing, but that is simply not the case. The perioperative environment insists on the circulator having impeccable critical thinking skills that aid in anticipating needs unique to each case and patient, and that is the heart of nursing. The biggest difference I noticed is that in surgery potential complications drive our interventions more than actual problems (though there certainly are actual problems we address such as anxiety r/t the surgical procedure, etc.) and it's the opposite on the floor - actual problems drive our interventions.

Now - I'm going to be perfectly frank, when I first transitioned to the OR I was warned not to do it because a) "surgery people are crazy" or b) "surgery nurses don't like people" and c) surgery nursing isn't real nursing. These were very unfair generalizations. That said though, in my experience, colleagues in the perioperative setting can be less pleasant toward one another than other areas of nursing in which I've worked. I've personally had to report more people for unprofessional behavior in OR than I've ever had to in L&D. This unprofessional behavior ranged from rudeness and yelling to condescending and demeaning comments. I reported one CRNA for telling a patient to "quit whining, there's nothing wrong" when she was waking up. I've been told far more horrific stories by colleagues at other facilities in regard to how OR staff treat one another, but that may not necessarily be something that is universal and as I understand it, many facilities are taking a zero tolerance stance against hostile work environments.

It's definitely a different world! Good luck!

ArtieRN · Mar 8, 2014

I had some trepidation when I took on an OR fellowship. I was also offered a position at a different hospital on a neurosurgery floor. It's a pretty different beast than working on the floor, and in nursing school, they discouraged too much interest in the OR, at least at first. The truth is, you just won't know until you're there whether you personally will enjoy it. I myself have fun with the procedures and have found myself learning a lot. At the same time, I know I'm getting rusty in the other skills and find myself completely drained some days, and dreading call. There's a nurse in my fellowship group who was in NICU for 12 years before starting to feel too static and felt the need to expand and grow. If you want the challenge to learn something completely new? Go for it. If you're not sure? Go for it anyway. The worst that can happen is that you learn that it's not for you, and if you're a nurse with a few years experience, you should be able to find a floor job to go back to after.

MadpeysRN · Mar 15, 2014

The search is over-I accepted a position today! Yay!

ArtieRN · Mar 17, 2014

Congrats! It's going to be overwhelming at first. And for a couple months after, but enjoy the process and don't be afraid to dive in! Ask lots of questions. The OR is no place for shrinking violets!