New OR Nurse struggling, should I move on?

[tydawg, MSN, RN]

So I am about 3 months in at a small critical access hospital as an OR circulator, what I thought was going to be my ideal entry nursing position as a new grad. I am recently really struggling with the job, I am one of 3 full time circulators, and our manager also circulates cases on occasion. The issues I am having with the job are when I was hired I came in with the expectation that it would be a full time 40 hour a week position, and I am lucky to average 25 hours a week and we are constantly on low census, sometimes not having cases scheduled for days. But the expectation is that I still report to work 5 days out of the week, M-F. I would have no problem doing so but to sent home after 3-4 hours work is not only frustrating but not healthy for my career or bank account.

Also being new to the OR I came in with the expectation that I would be enrolled in the PeriOp 101 course through the AORN, I was excited at this prospect because there is so much I did not know. Not only has this not happened but I now have found out they will not enroll me in it for at least another year as it is too expensive. The training I have received so far is all on the job training between the other two circulators and myself. While there are some cases that I am very comfortable doing myself there are others we do so far and few in between yet I am expected to know every little detail of a surgical procedure I have never circulated or been taught about. To other OR nurses what is a reasonable time frame to start circulating cases as a new grad?

Is it unreasonable of me to be considering searching for a different job? I would feel horrible leaving the facility knowing how small they are and the expectation they have of me staying on but at the same time I feel as if the commitment they made to me regarding hours and training is putting me in a precarious situation.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

AORN's position is that nurses should receive at least 40 hours of orientation per specialty. Being in a larger community hospital setting, I wouldn't even begin to guess at what specialties you may be circulating. However, my facility goes well beyond 40 hours per specialty- some specialties are 5-6 weeks of orientation, with a grand total orientation of 5-6 months. At 3 months, you aren't going to be feeling confident regardless of the type of nursing unit you work on- that's going to take 1-2 years to happen. Between the lack of training (Periop101 isn't necessarily a requirement for orientation, but there should be some basic education about this specialty that gets left out of most nursing schools) and the lack of hours, I don't think it's unreasonable to be looking for a new job.

[tydawg, MSN, RN]

Thank you for the reply. Yes we have a large variety of specialties, ENT, Ophthalmology, Peds, General, Orthopedic, Endo/Colonoscopies, OB. Some of the specialties like Ophthalmology I am completely comfortable with and the surgeon that does them has even said that I am taking well to it and he is known to voice any discontent. I applied to a few outpatient surgical eye clinics as I do enjoy this niche even those it is fast paced it is much less stressful for me than doing so many specialties and expected to start being the only nurse on call by myself in less than a month.