Now I'm REALLY psyched!

Congrats! As a student nurse who wants to go into the OR, it's good to see they are hiring new grads :)

Finished and passed all my finals, so I'll start O.R. orientation on 6/4. This coming Thurs will be my last day of podiatry practice, after nearly 30 years. I feel like a kid fresh out of college going for my first job! For the first time in my life, I'll have paid vacation, O.T. pay, paid (mostly) healthcare, sick time, tuition reimbursement for future schooling, and pay towards my student loans. All this, plus I get to watch all those cool operations :-). Life is good.

:balloons: Congratulations!!!!!!!!

Good luck Brewerpaul and keep us updated. :monkeydance:

Katie

This is late but congrats and best of luck!!!!

Good luck to you! I start school this week to beome a surgical tech...It's so exciting, I can't wait to get into the OR. I hope everything goes smoothly, and congratulations on your graduation!

Update-- graduated on 5/20: with honors!

I got a call today from the hospital with some details about orientation. They gave me the option of delaying my actual start in the OR for two weeks in order to do some work on a post-op nursing floor. I figured this was not a bad idea, so I took it. I'll have plenty of OR time, and seeing what the patients go through after we're done with them will give me some good perspective, and firm up my nursing skills a bit.

Good for you!!! The OR is addictive! I hope you love it as much as I have for more than 30 years. I still look forward to each assignment and pt. I cannot think of a better way for me to bring home a paycheck and self esteem.

It would be great to observe in a call back situation! 1/2 of a day is not much to form an opinion and get a true picture.

It is addictive and a love/hate relationship. It isn't for everyone. How great to see you are addicted and ready to roll those stretchers. Congratulations and good luck with your new position!!

It just keeps getting better!

I did a couple of weeks on med/surg on a post-op floor and although I anticipated hating it, it was really a good experience. I got a good feel for where the surgical patients go and what the follow up care is like.

This past Monday, I started in the OR for real. In the course of the week, I saw a bunch of Uro cases (laser blasting of stones, stent implantation, cysto/retros ) a total hip, bowel resection for colon CA, cataract surgery with IOL etc. Grand tour of the body...

The people in this OR are TERRIFIC. Very welcoming (as is the whole hospital) and eager to teach. Ditto for all of the Docs that I've met so far. I have a bit of an inside edge with the Docs due to my years of podiatry practice: I've dealt professionally with a lot of them already.

In addition to observing surgery, I've been trying to learn what all the instruments and supplies are and where they're kept, how to use the old DOS based computer system, helping open packs for cases and turn over the rooms. I'm LITERALLY dreaming about the OR at night!

It's a bit of sensory overload, but I can see that once I'm more on track this is going to be so much fun that I'll feel guilty getting paid to do it........ nah!

Remember this a couple of months from now: It is grueling to start any new specialty. Period. So when your current excitement (and desire to do always do a great job) clashes with the intenseness of being a newbie, DON'T GIVE UP.

You sound totally eager to learn. Keep it up, keep your OR goals in mind, and hang in there.

I'm a 7 yr OR nurse, and am writing a paper for the end of my RN-BSN program, mentioning the nursing theory of Patricia Benner (she studied the transition from novice, advanced beginner, competent practitioner, proficient pract., expert practitioner--nursing "professional socialization"). Check out her stuff online--her stages are right on (encouraging when you're learning, growing). I recently did 120 hours of clinicals in the ER and the beginning was so frustrating!! I found myself thinking, "Benner never said how frustrating it is being a newbie!!" But while being a beginner is frustrating, you don't stay a beginner for long. So keep that in mind.

Best of luck to you!! The OR is a great place!!

Wait a minute--you were in podiatry already? (Reading is fundamental) You're not new to sterile technique in the OR setting, so you've got such an edge.

My words of pre-encouragement are still applicable to you. The other reflective part of my little paper is how much I thought it "bit the big one" (not a term in the paper) to be good at something (for me, OR) and so green at something else (ER).

At one point in my initial misery, I felt a bit like a petulant child--mad at myself and internally pouting, like "Oh my god, I hate this. Why did I do this?! [Even though I CHOSE it] Another group of nursing theory type of people (Davidhizar, Gigen, and Reed) said, "Keep your perspective. You are in school by choice. No one is doing this to you." As a professional back in school, humiliating as it is to admit, this statement has often met me where I'm at.

Anyway, enough babble. Best of luck in your new career!!