I graduated school in December, passed my NCLEX in March, and Immediately took a job in the OR. during school, I never had an OR rotation so I had 0 clue what I was getting into. The reason I chose this position is because I never enjoyed med surg during my clinical rotations, I did not get the initial job I wanted on a pediatric ICU, and my ultimate goal is to end up in Psych; which doesn’t usually hire grad nurses so I needed a job to get me started. I had heard nothing but good things from the OR nurses about how much they enjoyed their job. They seemed genuinely happy, and as a grad nurse, that’s always a plus! (The floor’s culture was very important to me when searching for a job). Another main reason I chose this position is because of the 6-month long orientation, which included rotating through the services (neuro, vascular, cardiac) as well as pre-op, PACU, and other areas to familiarize yourself with the environment, while doing the Peri-Op 101 course. After four months, we would be able to choose a speciality and spend the next two months orienting in that specific area. That seemed like a sweet set-up to me so I didn’t hesitate to accept the job.
I am currently in week 3 of my orientation. Due to COVID, our orientation was cut in half, they already put us in our services (I hadn’t even been in a room when they did), and they want us to be ready to circulate our own rooms by end of June, beginning of July, because they believe a surge will be coming around that time and they want all hands on deck. As a new nurse, completely foreign to the OR, I’m already beyond overwhelmed. Now to know I have to be prepared in 3 months vs 6.... it has my anxiety through the roof. On top of this, the job itself isn’t what I expected. At one point I thought the lack of hands-on patient care would be better for me, but now I find myself missing it and enjoying the peri-op assessment the most out of the entire case. I don’t feel like the circulating nurses role is something I’d want to do long term, which makes it even harder to want to continue with this path.
For me, the transition is hard from nursing school because it’s nothing like what I was taught. It’s like starting entirely over in my nursing education. I feel like I lack the confidence that being a floor or ICU nurse to start would have given me, as far as dealing with doctors, whereas the other nurses I started with all came from floors/units and they seem to have more confidence. This is my first job in general, aside from waitressing through school, so confidence in the hospital in general is lacking for me. It’s something I’ve struggled with throughout school and something I knew would be hard in whatever first job I chose.
I feel like I may have made the wrong choice, but I can’t tell if this is due to just being an overwhelmed new grad, or because this really isn’t the right fit for me. My question to you all is: How do I know the difference between the two? What made y’all know the OR was a good fit? I’m at the point where I could still get a transfer waiver and be able to relocate to a unit or a floor, but I don’t want to give up on this job if it is just fear and anxiety that is causing the dislike for the OR. (Yes, I’m an over thinker) The other new nurses seem to be enjoying their roles and the job itself, so I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel right now. If y’all have any similar stories or advice that could help me in any way, feel free to share! I’m just very confused and overwhelmed right now and anything would help.
