New RN dreams of going to OR

[Guest296136]

I graduated last year and am currently working on an oncology/medsurg floor. It's a great learning floor but my goal is to go to the OR. I was thinking 2yrs med/surg and then trying to go to the OR. I want to feel comfortable in my skills, some nurses have told me I should try to get a year or so of critical care under my belt, in case I want to go to the Cath lab or other areas of OR that specialized.

Any advice?

[SandraCVRN]

Apply to the OR whenever it's available. Our OR folks don't go to the Cath Lab, it's a completly different department.

Have you been able to observe in the OR? Why is the OR your goal?

Good luck.

[ornurse88]

I graduated and went right into the OR. I was told to get some years of floor nursing under my belt but I choose not to listen cause they were the same nurse who said OR nursing are not nurses. I applied and I got in and have never left the OR.

I agree with Sandra you should observe the OR, if you haven't. That way you can talk to the other nurses and nurse educator so you can get into the OR faster. If that's where you want to go.

[Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN]

Some areas require to complete a perioperative nursing course, of course the hospital should assist in this course.

[KayceeCA]

I went straight to the OR from nursing school because I knew that was where I wanted to be. I worked as a nurse extern in the OR while I was in nursing school, so I knew OR nursing was what I wanted to do. I had a lot of people tell me I should work med-surg to "get the experience", but as someone else said, those were the same people who were saying, "oh, you don't want to be an OR nurse, that's not real nursing" so I chose to ignore their advice. I've never regretted my decision. I did leave the first hospital where I worked to take a position in another OR that offered an excellent perioperative training program. That would be my best piece of advice if you're sure you want to be an OR nurse - find a hospital that offers really good perioperative training.