New Grads with no patient care experience in the O.R

Specialties Operating Room

Published

Recently in the O.R.where i work there has been discussion about new grads with no patient care experience working in this area. Many of my coworkers as well as I feel they need med surg experience at least 1 year. I know the new trend is they should . I personally and others feel they should first learn assessment skills ,learning to assess the full body starting I.Vs learning basic skills before venturing into this unit. I personally feel its putting the staff in an awkward position as well as the new grad.

I'm a recent grad and we did clinical throughout our program, including a 2.5 month preceptorship, all of which were primarily in med/surg. 

I hate med/surg. I HATE IT. I feel like forcing me to work in med/surg for a year would be absolute torture, I'd probably end up leaving (unless it was in peds, I might be good there, it's the only rotation I enjoyed) and finding a clinic position in that case. 

I get the reasoning, but I feel like OR nursing is so, so different from med/surg nursing that much of that experience would be lost and pointless. 

I'll say this...right now at least in CA it is very challenging to even get an interview for an OR/periop position as a new grad. I know COVID is a factor due to decreased case loads but OR is exactly where I want to be. It is where my interest in nursing began while my years working as an xray tech. I've always loved working in surgery.

 

To echo others...it all depends on the person. If they have never been exposed to the OR it can be shocking. Some people are comfortable and others aren't. I hear from a lot of people that "you need med/surg experience" and I don't agree. There again, it depends on the individual.

Specializes in Operating Room.
On 4/12/2020 at 11:19 PM, JeSuisMe said:

No doubt about impressions, but it didn't sour me on the OR, I just have a new perspective about what to look for when I apply to ANY position in the future.

In my interviews for a position I've applied to since I resigned, my questions about training and orientation were more effective at getting details about the process. From here on if there isn't a solid structured plan that's already been in place for a while, that has a history I can look into, I'm just going to pass on it.

You hit the nail right on the head. This doesn’t just apply to new grads either. Many places have poor orientations for any nurse coming in...I recently left a job that paid extremely well after only about two months. There was a poor workplace culture and no rhyme or reason to orientation. Very poor communication as well. They’d micro manage you on the small stuff yet leave you to your own devices on the big things. 
 

They  had a problem with employee retention and I can see why. 

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