I've noticed a surprising lack of nursing students in my OR for this time of year. Then I had one for about 40 minutes during a crani. She had spent all morning watching laparoscopic cholecystectomies. Apparently, that's where all of the nursing students have been. Don't get me wrong, lap choles can be involved, especially when/if they open. But most of the time it's plug, plug, plug, hit the lights, fill out the specimen form. The nursing student who is used to seeing floor nurses running for their whole shift now spends a day watching a nurse sit at the computer and check her email.
And the pathophysiology really isn't all that involved/complicated. Gallstones = gallbladder out.
It would be nice if the students came and saw an ortho or neuro case, where the RN has a little more to juggle (generally), and it's easier to understand the surgery itself. Watching a lap chole is like watching someone else play a video game, but watching an ORIF you can see a lot more and understand how the fracture is reduced and maybe get a better understanding of post-op care.
Does anyone else regularly have nursing students in their OR? Which cases do they get put in?
Our students (LPNs) watch anything we do, almost. Except total hips. We do ortho cases, gyno cases, cystos, and general, and some vascular. I love having students in my room. I'm a new circulator (and a new grad RN) so I like teaching what I've just recently learned myself. Sometimes the surgeons will try to make room for them to see what they're doing and tell them as they go along.
Our school and hospital let us have a day in the OR and we went through the surgery center seeing pre-op, and OR and PACU. Most of the surgeries at our hospital seem to be TURP, joint replacement or fractures (hip) or total knees. Also colon resections. I liked the total knee an the hip fx surgery best..the one lady already had her total knee but it became infected. It was neat to see that. The other lady had her hip fx and i was kind of amazed at the positioning and how big her thigh muscle was. I loved the TURP too. I also saw Csections when we did the womens health part of nursing school. That was neat too. I might be wrong but I don't think we have a lot of heart surgeries at our facility. I know they do cardiac cath's here but its in the cath lab and not the OR. Anyway...I am thinking of doing OR nursing after a year of med/surg but even though I got to see different types of surgeries, I still have no clue what the RN does in the OR.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Our school and hospital let us have a day in the OR and we went through the surgery center seeing pre-op, and OR and PACU. Most of the surgeries at our hospital seem to be TURP, joint replacement or fractures (hip) or total knees. Also colon resections. I liked the total knee an the hip fx surgery best..the one lady already had her total knee but it became infected. It was neat to see that. The other lady had her hip fx and i was kind of amazed at the positioning and how big her thigh muscle was. I loved the TURP too. I also saw Csections when we did the womens health part of nursing school. That was neat too. I might be wrong but I don't think we have a lot of heart surgeries at our facility. I know they do cardiac cath's here but its in the cath lab and not the OR. Anyway...I am thinking of doing OR nursing after a year of med/surg but even though I got to see different types of surgeries, I still have no clue what the RN does in the OR.
Interesting how things have changed in 20 years when I was in school we did 10 hours in the OR every week for an entire term.
We saw and participated in everything except eyes and hearts (we weren't even allowed in the rooms for those) and there wasn't much neuro beyond flaps and bolts- at the time extensive neuro was limited to a couple hospitals in our area.
By the end of the term a lot of us were scrubbing for simple abdomens and joints and circulating on all but the previously mentioned exclusions.
I probably would have loved OR if I wasn't so claustrophobic.
I think I am the only person I have met who LIKES being in an MRI machine. I almost fall asleep in there. I know this is irrelevant but I had to say that haha. I am assuming this means I liked to be swaddled as an infant. LOL.
I think I am the only person I have met who LIKES being in an MRI machine. I almost fall asleep in there. I know this is irrelevant but I had to say that haha. I am assuming this means I liked to be swaddled as an infant. LOL.
I think all programs really need an OR rotation, or at least some observation days. I think it is hard to get to see what the OR nurses really do in a few days, b/c as student, you are so fascinated by the surgery. But overall you do get a feel for the environment, which is good.
When I was a student I had 2 OR observation days. I knew that I wanted to work here one day (but just not right away.) Well I have been working neuro med-surg for over 2 yrs now, I have the basics down and my skins' a bit thicker, I am ready for that change.
The OR really seems a mysterious place to the other nurses in the hospital, since only the specially trained are permitted beyond the doors. I completed another observation day as a RN, last fall, just to solidify my decision. You wouldn't believe how many other nurses were interested in what my expereince was like, many know nothing about OR nursing. Well, I am signed up for a perioperative program this fall, and I can't wait to be working in greens.
I dont even get a rotation in the OR in my nursing program. I have to fight tooth and nail to get to see procedures. I am very interested in the OR and its sad that we students arent exposed to this specialized field of nursing.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
I dont even get a rotation in the OR in my nursing program. I have to fight tooth and nail to get to see procedures. I am very interested in the OR and its sad that we students arent exposed to this specialized field of nursing.
The sad thing is that there are so many different specialties that a student can't possibly be exposed to them all. So I guess schools have to pick and choose, and it may also have to do with where clinical facilities are allowing students. My school used to have a summer elective where students could spend 6 weeks in the OR, but ended it about a semester before I would have been eligible. What would be nice is if schools would offer such electives.
Interesting to hear other hospitals let students into the heart team. I think that is great. We generally put the student in a general surgery room. The circulator that is with them is usually so bogged down with paperwork that she/he doesn't have any time for the student. If you think about it, although inadvertantly, the student is basically told to "stand in the corner and don't touch anything." I admit that I have been guilty of that to a certain extent on days my room has 7-8 patients in 8 hours.
I was in the locker room the other day changing after my shift and a student came in to change and leave so I asked him how he like his day and he said he was looking forward to his day in the OR for months but ater today he never wanted to come back.
Sometimes I think we need to remember what it was like in our first day in the OR when we have students and maybe advocate for them....see they get into a room where the circulator can have some time to explain and....demystify....our world.
when I was in school we did 10 hours in the OR every week for an entire term. 
LAM2010, BSN
129 Posts
Our students (LPNs) watch anything we do, almost. Except total hips. We do ortho cases, gyno cases, cystos, and general, and some vascular. I love having students in my room. I'm a new circulator (and a new grad RN) so I like teaching what I've just recently learned myself. Sometimes the surgeons will try to make room for them to see what they're doing and tell them as they go along.