New Grad OR Nurse

Specialties Operating Room

Published

Hey all,

I wanted to get thoughts on what people thought about working in the OR as a new grad? I've always been interested to work in surgery. If I enjoy it I'll of course stay in the OR, but if I don't I'd eventually want to transition into the ED. How easily would the transition be from the OR to the ED? Appreciate any advice and what it's like to work in the OR!!

Specializes in PACU.

ED and OR are two very different animals. In the OR you will have very little contact with awake patients. Most of your contact will occur before the surgery. After surgery your patients will go to the PACU where the PACU nurse will take over. In the ER you will get a lot of hands on. In the ER you will have to be prepared to deal with a stinky drunk one minute but your next patient may be someone who is having a heart attack. You will have to be part nurse and part social worker. I think if you find a hospital with a really good OR training program I think new grads in the OR is fine. My hospital does not, I've seen at least 9 new grads come through there and none of them stay. They didn't just leave the OR, they left the entire hospital. Just know that OR is a very specific type of nursing that does not carry over to floor nursing, not that you couldn't learn if you want to. I think it would be easier to go from ER to OR but that's just my opinion.

Specializes in med-surg, OR.

If you have no prior floor expereince, I think it would be really hard to go from OR->ED. You should have a confidence/knowledge in the basics of nursing first, unless, they offer an intensive lengthy orientation program to ED. The OR is so different, I felt as though I was orientating to a new profession when I started. I am considering getting a prn floor position, just to keep up some of my old skills, in case I ever wanted to try something new again (such as ED.)

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