New Grad in OR?

suzanne4, RN · May 9, 2004

Sure there are some surgeons that have huge egos, but once they realize that you know your stuff and won't put up with their crap, they usually back down and you find yourself well respected.

You do a lot of standing if you are the scrub, but not as much as the circulator. There are actual mats that you can purchase to stand on that make your legs more comfortable when you are going to be in the same position for a long time. I actually used to order up an extra sequential stocking machine and use it on my tech for very long cases................

Cases can vary in length from under 15 minutes to some that I have been part of that have actually gone for over 24 hours on the same patient, of course with different crews coming and going...............

Comfortable clogs help quite a bit, and I prefer Super Birkies, actually all that I will even consider using. Have had such great results with them.

Hope that this helps.................... :balloons:

Energizer Bunny · May 9, 2004

Suzanne...thanks. It really does help. Is there a hectic pace at all in the OR or is it all pretty laid back? I thrive on action so I'm thinking if it's laid back in the OR that I might not enjoy it either...I keep coming up with new things. Sorry! LOL!

orrnlori, RN · May 9, 2004

I've never been bored in the OR.

suzanne4, RN · May 9, 2004

Suzanne...thanks. It really does help. Is there a hectic pace at all in the OR or is it all pretty laid back? I thrive on action so I'm thinking if it's laid back in the OR that I might not enjoy it either...I keep coming up with new things. Sorry! LOL!

It can be extremely hectic, much depends on the type of facility that you are working in. If it is action that you want, go to the regoinal trauma center in your area. you will never complain of things being quiet. It also depends on the service that you are on, in the heart room there is never a dull moment. Working in a room doing an aneurysm clipping can be very "quiet" at times, as it can take up to eight hours or more to reach some of the more difficult aneurysms, before you begin the actual clipping. That time can be quite stressful to everyone in the room.

I never find the OR boring, you don't have time to let it get boring..........

there is always something going on..................

Hope that this helps. Why don't you try shadowing an OR RN for a day at your local trauma center? Then you will really get to see the way things are done! And I promise that you won't find it all boring...............

Energizer Bunny · May 9, 2004

WE don't even have a "local" trauma center. I think the closest one is at least an hour away, but I don't plan on living here after graduation either. Hey, I have two years to figure it all out, but thought I'd get as much as I can from you guys! LOL! Milking it up here! Thanks!

stevierae · May 9, 2004

It also depends on the service that you are on, in the heart room there is never a dull moment.

Arrrggggghhhhh!!!!!! Suzanne, SURELY you jest!!!! Hearts are the most boring, BORING cases in the world! The ONLY people that like hearts are fairly new grads--for a while they find it challenging, and truthfully I think it makes them feel important to be a member of a "prestigious" team (buncha da** prima donnas,actually.) Once they do it for a year, they want out of there, and we are all saying, "I TOLD ya so..."

Especially now that cardiac surgery is more and more performed on beating hearts, with the aid of a ingenious retractor that makes it all possible--all the "drama" that used to accompany coming off bypass is no longer there. It's pretty routine, just like any other case you've done enough gets to be.

But, I think, if you are young, you should try to do as much trauma as you can--as I once told lori, once you turn 30, trauma is no longer fun or challenging--the "adrenaline rush" isn't there, being awakened in the middle of the night is just an unpleasant interruption of your sleep, and at some point you realize that NO ONE CAN PAY YOU ENOUGH FOR YOUR PERSONAL TIME!!

Trauma can obviously lead to burn-out, too--especially when you find yourself there doing a crani to save the life of a man who executed his wife and 7 kids while they slept--and then sorta half-heartedly turned the gun on himself,and unfortunately did not die--or when you find yourself doing a thoracotomy on a 21 year old gang banger on whom you've operated before--when he was 20, 19, 18, and 17--for his various knife and gun wounds.

Hearts!!!! I'd rather be pecked to death by a duck! Now, big thoracotomies for cancer--or big spinal instrumentation cases--those are fun.

Shodobe, are you out there? I gotta hear your thoughts on hearts.

suzanne4, RN · May 9, 2004

I am still talking about the hearts on pump, which we still do when there are multiple jumps. Perhaps, I have been lucky and have always worked with a "fun" group of heart surgeons. Really any case is what you make of it.........The same groups of heart docs that I worked with also do a fair amount of big lung cases. So it also depends on the caseload that you get from each doc.

That is what makes the world intersting. I also love big cranio-facial cases and the huge 24 hour ENT cases. I know Lori dislikes the ENT doctors that she works with. Each person has their favorites..............

suzanne4, RN · May 9, 2004

Steph,

but if you look at my earlier post, it recommended going to the regional trauma center as a starting point.......................

stevierae · May 10, 2004

Steph,
but if you look at my earlier post, it recommended going to the regional trauma center as a starting point.......................

I know, just having some fun with you, Suzanne... :kiss

stevierae · May 10, 2004

I am still talking about the hearts on pump, which we still do when there are multiple jumps. Perhaps, I have been lucky and have always worked with a "fun" group of heart surgeons. Really any case is what you make of it.........The same groups of heart docs that I worked with also do a fair amount of big lung cases. So it also depends on the caseload that you get from each doc.
That is what makes the world intersting. I also love big cranio-facial cases and the huge 24 hour ENT cases. I know Lori dislikes the ENT doctors that she works with. Each person has their favorites..............

Yeah, I've always worked with great ENT docs. I worked with one in San Francisco who is world famous, especially in the world of ENT oncology--people come from all over the world to have him operate on them.

Yet, this guy comes to work every day with his lunch in a brown paper bag and eats in the lounge and socializes with the rest of us. His residents are the nicest, most polite people you could ever imagine--because they revere him, and take their cue from the way they see him treating the nurses and other team members.

But, there is another ENT doctor--actually, I get along with him fine--I think he might be kind of scared of me, LOL!!--but the way he treats his poor residents is shameful!!! I have seen more than one in tears.

One time, I said to one of them, at the end of a case,

"Don't worry--he treats all the residents this way--he just thinks he's God. Hes' not singling you out."

He glared at the guy's back, and said, "He's not God--HE'S SATAN!!!!!"

I've always liked chests. One thing that really irritates me about some of the young heart nurses--they seem to think that only heart nurses can do thoracotomies.

Well, back in the day (mid-'70s, then early '80's) when I trained, thoracotomies were considered general surgery, and no big deal, and you were expected to have done a fair number of them both when I was in OR school, and also to be able to take call wherever I worked.

I never even worked at a facility that did hearts until the mid-'90s, and couldn't believe what a major production they made--i.e., switching room assignments so that "heart" nurses could be in the room--for simple, everyday lobectomies and pneumonectomies.

shodobe · May 10, 2004

Yea, stevierae, but do you notice that when it comes to doing the simplest procedure heart nurses suddenly become all thumbs! They are all very good at what they do but get out of their rooms so seldom they forget what it is like to be a lowly, common scrub nurse. I do admire them for their skills though. When I started back in the late 70s, I was just learning how to scrub chest when both chest guys decided to RETIRE! I haven't really done one since. I, being a guy, love ortho though and would rather spend all day on trauma fractures than anything. I really don't care to much on total joints because it's the same usually. Mike

PS, just kidding with the heart people. Like I said they perform a very tough job.

Energizer Bunny · May 10, 2004

Okay, dumb student here...what is ENT dr???