I ask this GREAT Nursing Community to Please Help Me with Picking Up the Pieces

[To Help and Learn]

I just signed up for this wonderful site and think it is awesome that as a community we can be there for one another. I promise that I will "pay it forward" by helping those that ask for it of me now and in the future in any way I can, but now to all you that are reading this I need your help in any way that you can give it.

I will try to keep this as short as possible for I know you are not here to read about my life story. Even though this is anonymous it is still hard for me to write about. I graduated nursing school in 2009 and got my first job as a RN on a med/surg floor in July of that year. I was struggling with adjusting to work and saw a psychiatrist and counselor at the time. The psychiatrist was adjusting my medications throughout and I would have to take clonazepam 0.5mg at the beginning of my shift to help me cope.

At the end of December 2009 I suffered a nervous breakdown and have not worked since. I was out on temporary disability for six months and am now on unemployment. Last year was very hard for both my wife and I. We hope that 2011 will be a better year and I can see that happening with your help.

I want to get back in nursing but I am trying to do everything in my power not to go back to a med/surg floor for it does not fit my strengths or personality. So I looked at every type of nursing out there before I gave up on the profession for good and saw that perioperative nursing would be a good fit for me. I have over a year and a half of experience with med/surg nursing for I also worked on a med/surg floor as a nursing assistant for a year. I saw enough to know that it is not the type of nursing that fits me. I can give many reasons why med/surg is not a good fit but will spare you in interest of your valuable time.

I think perioperative nursing would be a good fit for the reasons of I love working on a team, am very detail oriented, like to see tasks carried to completion, the environment allows you to give more attention to your patient, etc. I do not mind the stress of an emergency situation for I worked in the ER as a tech for a year before I became a RN.

After I left my previous position due to my nervous breakdown I tried applying for various RN OR staff positions but never heard anything back. I was blessed to get an interview for a OR RN staff position that included training back in July 2010 but did not get it due to lack of experience. It seems that all employers that have open RN OR positions are only looking for candidates with experience. I seriously considered going back to a med/surg position as a RN to get to the position of RN OR but honestly do not think I have it in me.

Instead of going back to work as a med/surg RN I applied to a program (it looks promising that I will get in but I will find out for sure in about a month) to get trained as a surgical technologist. I thought what better way to learn a profession then from the ground up. I am running into problems for school starts in September 2011 and I need a job to get me through until the program is over.

I am trying to stay in healthcare and applied for unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) positions such as perioperative associate to give me experience and broaden my network. I know this is a gray area and since I am licensed as a RN I should not work below my license, but I have heard that some places let you. I have contacted my state board of nursing for clarity on this issue and am awaiting their response.

So it comes down to trying to break into the perioperative field in a way that I can handle. As you can see I am willing to make sacrifices to get to a career that I have researched and think would be a good fit for me. I do not like being out of work and want so much to start to help people again in a way that my strengths will be most beneficial to them. Will you now please help both my wife and I in any way you can so we can get this gorilla off our backs.

Sorry this was so long and thank you for reading. If it helps you I am from Northern NJ. Any questions you may have for me feel free to send them my way and I will do my best to answer them as quickly as I can.

Many blessings to those who give their time to help those who need it.

P.S. I have reached out for help from others and they either do not respond or worse yet say they will help and never follow through. I will pray that the people on this site are different.

[mrsilly]

"I was seriously thinking of joining AORN to help with advice and networking. I see for a standard membership it is $125.00. If I do it I will see it as an investment in my future and know that it is a step in the right direction."

It could be the best $$ you've invested. There is so much information available. Also, you can place this on your resume. Many hospitals look positively at this.

Sorry, I skimmed through the postings, so disregard the last posting about where you live....

[LAM2010, BSN]

I would keep trying and applying, despite a recent history of getting turned down for no experience. Hiring trends and the economy, in my job-searching experience (I've been looking at the job sites of all the hospitals constantly, despite having an OR job) (because I enjoy sitting on my butt on the internet too much), have gone up and down, even within a year's time. No one wanted me when I first graduated nursing school in 2009 (except at a SNF), but just a few months later, the ads came back with different requirements for experience. They could change in 6 months. But anyway... I had a clinical in "leadership and management" in an OR in my last semester of nursing school.... it served no purpose but getting my face and some talk-time in with the manager I shadowed, because I got no hands-on clinical experience there. And when I contacted her personally for an interview (the front desk wouldn't have even let me apply til I told her I personally talked to the OR director), I had to sell myself to her - over the phone, and in person twice. I think what gave me the confidence was my attitude about the job, not the list of skills I had (which I didn't have).

So it all depends on the situation. My point is, keep trying and don't give up and don't let anyone else tell you you can't. :)

[LAM2010, BSN]

AND, as far as the stress in the O.R. vs. the stress working med/surg.... It is stress of a different kind. But it is stress that comes and goes quickly! If you're a circulator, anyway.... I can't speak from a scrub perspective. You get one patient at a time, you see the outcome immediately, and that patient leaves. Some cases take 5 minutes, others take 5 hours. The stress is getting ready for it, dealing with stuff within the case, maybe having to deal with the crazy personalities of the surgeons (I shouldn't say "crazy", because I believe some of them are seriously bipolar), etc. And you get asked to do 10 things at once sometimes, and you get to prioritize. But you're prioritzing tasks for ONE temporary patient...Not prioritizing tasks for each of 8 patients at a time, all of whom might be there for 3 days or more. When you're done, you're done, you can let that case go and tackle the next one.

It is stressful being new, but once you learn it, that stress, of course, goes away.

Back to the "personality disorders" (both diagnosed and undiagnosed, treated and untreated).... everyone's got them to some degree or the other. I personally deal well with the surgeons with off-kilter personalities because these guys are not the worst people I've ever had to deal with in my life. Plus, I'm a moody, tempermental person myself, and I understand what sets me off and what makes me a good person despite those occasional episodes :) The docs go through the same thing. And I personally have this attitude - "You hurt the ones you love the most." I yell at people at home, but not the people at work (yet). I love the people at home. So of COURSE, when the surgeons get nasty with me or someone else, that only means they LOVE us :) (right?...) (haha)

I just love this job and I am not going to let anyone ruin it for me.

[To Help and Learn]

Thank you mrsilly for responding to my post and sharing that you understand where I am coming from, being that you had to go through some mental health issues yourself. As long as we get through our issues the experience makes us stronger and better able to help those who find themselves in similar situations. I have my eyes all over NYC hospitals and got one call back from New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center for a spot in their OR as a RN but nothing ever came of it. I will keep trying as you mentioned.

I am not giving up anytime soon and thanks to help from people like you it keeps that spark alive. My mother and boyfriend have property down on the border of NC and SC. I think it is by Little River, SC. From what I heard the money is good for nursing down there and the expense of living is less than up North.

I understand the OR can be stressful but feel it is a different kind of stress then what you find as a floor nurse. I give lots of credit to those that do floor nursing. My hat goes off to all of you for all your hard work. I think I can handle the stress better in a OR setting versus a floor setting and this is one of the reasons I want to pursue OR nursing.

I agree with you on joining AORN and placing it on my resume. It seems like a great organization and joining it can only help. Thanks again for your input and I wish you the best in life and in your career.

[To Help and Learn]

Thank you LAM2010 for responding to my post. It looks like as a new RN grad you got a job in the OR right away so I will use that as hope for me as well. Congratulations on getting a position and using your networking skills plus attitude to do so.

I appreciate all your comments about how your days are working in the OR. I value all perspectives I can get about how the OR operates which further validates that I am going in the right direction with my career goals. In my comment to mrsilly I write about the stress of OR nursing versus floor nursing and your comments seem to reinforce what I have said which is nice.

I agree with if you understand yourself well then you can deal better with people in general. This also helps when you are dealing with difficult personalities. Thank you for ALL your valuable input. From your attitude that is carried through your words I can see why the OR director hired you and I wish you nothing but the best!

[FreestylePete, BSN, RN]

Did you ever get a position in the OR?