New Grad Operating Nurse- with Perioperative internship underbelt

[tori3195]

Hello all!

I am graduating in may and I am really struggling with what to do when I graduate. I have tons of people telling me to work med surg for 2 years. I really despise med surg but think the skills could help me in the future. My passion is the operating room. to give some background.. When i was a junior in nursing school I thought hey you know what would be a cool profession? nursing. so my aunt set up a shadow experience with a nurse anesthesitst. (now i know this isnt the same a circulating nurse.) I lovveed it. I spent 8 hours with this nurse and i knew from that day on nursing was my true love. fast forward to nursing school which i have to admit i was a tad disappointed i wasnt going back into the OR. Junior year i did my pediatric rotation and was blessed with being in same day surgery i got to go into the OR for a full clinical day and I was still in love. After seeing all the specilities in nursing and none of them feeling like home i was disappointed and was lost (I was told i couldnt be in OR after graduation so i kinda gave up). I heard about this new internship where i would take a 3 credit course about perioperative nursing and do 40 hours a week on a nurses schedule in the operating room (a couple weeks was spent in PACU and pre Op) while PACU and Preop were interesting i was still IN lOVE with the operating room. and I really got great experience working with a circulating nurse seeing how the job really worked and what went into it all. Now that I am about to graduate I am hearing about the open positions in the operating rooms in ALL the hospitals in my area. I really want to work in the operating room but im unsure if it would be unwise to jump right into it. I want to hear your opinons on a new grad with my type of experience starting in the operating room vs starting on a medical surgical floor.

Thanks :)

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

I started in the OR as a new grad. I still love what I do (not the place I work for so much, but that's another story) and I'm still working in the OR. I know a lot of people say to start in med/surg, but personally, I don't think it's necessary- and med/surg is a specialty in its own right as well.