Nursing Student Wanting OR, Should I Get A Floor Tech Position?

Argo · Aug 27, 2010

Make friends with the or staff and ask to shadow up there. Medsurg nursing can't hurt but it also is not a huge help. If the or people like you they will take you in an make a slot for you.

bnhanna9 · Aug 29, 2010

see if during clinicals, are any patients on the floor having surgery that you could go to. see if there's a day where you could follow around a surgery team as a clinical experience. also, does the hospital have an internship program for students right out of school/nurses. that's what i did. become a student member of AORN (seriously.. www.aorn.org). it's only $20/year as a student, you get a ton of benefits including journals which give you a good background on what's really going on down there. it also looks amazing during your first interview to say that you've been a member since nursing school. it shows initiative and determination. talk to your clinical instructor and see if you get get down there as much as possible. get names, phone numbers, ect. of OR personnel. call people, e-mail...good luck!

divokevan · Sep 30, 2010

YES! And this is why...

When I was a nursing student, I started out as a floor tech then used that experience to get a job in an out pt. surgery center (ASC). This was affiliated with a bigger hospital and I used that tie to get into the OR the second I got out of school. They will love that you are trying and it is SOOO important to start building a relationship with a hospital.

It will be good for you... while not the most fun thing in the world. I hear you... I hated the floor and only wanted to do OR all through school but I bit the bullet and got my perfect job right after school as a result! NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK! if you can get in as a surgical services assistant or whatever unlicensened job exists in your local ORs, then do it!! Otherwise, get a job for experience and something to put you above 60% of the other applicants. No one wants NO experience.

Hope this helps!

K.

LAM2010, BSN · Oct 3, 2010

It is better than no experience :) Even if you can do very part-time hours as a floor tech... The patient safety, and transferring and positioning, and even skin care that you do as a tech is a very basic but very important skill for the O.R. :) I felt like a dud not knowing that when I first started in the O.R., but I learned it very quickly!

srobb11 · Oct 29, 2010

YES! And this is why...
When I was a nursing student, I started out as a floor tech then used that experience to get a job in an out pt. surgery center (ASC). This was affiliated with a bigger hospital and I used that tie to get into the OR the second I got out of school. They will love that you are trying and it is SOOO important to start building a relationship with a hospital.
It will be good for you... while not the most fun thing in the world. I hear you... I hated the floor and only wanted to do OR all through school but I bit the bullet and got my perfect job right after school as a result! NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK! if you can get in as a surgical services assistant or whatever unlicensened job exists in your local ORs, then do it!! Otherwise, get a job for experience and something to put you above 60% of the other applicants. No one wants NO experience.
Hope this helps!
K.

Oops....I wish I had seen this before I started another post asking the same question. Great advice here, thanks!

SnowStar4 · Oct 30, 2010

I can't stand the floor either, but I got a job as a Nurse Tech on an ortho floor. This position not only gave me great overall experience, but is the sole reason that I was allowed to interview for one of the OR Nurse jobs as a new grad. I am also going to be earning more as a new grad due to my year and a half of "experience".

Plus...the pay was pretty decent and allowed me to graduate debt free. Overall it was a good choice.