Teaching Hospital question

ShariDCST · Jun 28, 2008

hi, i'm a new grad, going to start working in the o.r. at a fairly big teaching hospital. i was just wondering if teaching hospitals o.r's are any different from other hospital o.r's? all i really know is that there are probably going to be alot more people in the operating room (such as surgical interns, crna's students and techs). i had an internship in an outpatient surgery center during school so i'm pretty excited to actually see and work with alot bigger cases (& get paid for it) soo if anyone can really answer my question...that'd be great! thanks!

you are correct about having lots of extra people in the ors - which could also include nursing students, radiology students, surgical technology students, and so on - so lots of them. means more watching them if they don't scrub in so they don't accidentally contaiminate something. and more hands-on with them if they do scrub in - you'll be tying up a lot more gowns and so on.

outpatient surgery centers are generally geared to very efficient, quick as possible cases - although not at the expense of patient safety we hope - fast turnovers and the bottom line $$ wise - a little more so than a teaching hospital would be. the surgical cases in teaching hospitals can run longer than at a regular acute care facility, and definitely longer than at an osc - because the attending staff spend more time teaching the procedures to the medical students, interns and residents, and in the case of surgical residents especially, they will allow the students to perform some if not all of the case under their direct supervision, which of course takes longer.

and - just when you think you've reached the end of the case and they are closing skin and getting ready to put on the dressing, the attending will hand the closing sutures to the new resident and teach them how to close. sometimes that can seem to take longer than the case itself! it's a herky-jerky flow in a lot of cases - hurry hurry to get things started - then things slow down during the case, creep during closing, :banghead: and then it's hurry hurry again to get the patient out of the room, the room cleaned up and reset, and the next case begins. then you start all over again!

i've worked in osc's, regular acute care facilities, and my last two years scrubbing was in a teaching hospital. what i've told you is a general overview - there are always exceptions to every "rule" and you may find it to be like one of them one day, and another the next.

hope that gives you an idea of what to expect - i'm sure there are others here that can provide their own perspective as well.

good luck!!

MsLeylaBar · Jun 29, 2008

Like Shari said, teaching OR's takes longer with their cases and the flow is slower than community hospitals.

I think it's a great way for a new grad to learn and get paid for it . The pace is slower, everybody is more tolerant and willing to teach, the surgeons particularly are always willing to answer any questions you may have. You have a lot of people in the same situation as you, still on the learning phase. You would be able to watch a resident or a CRNA student intubating a patient or doing IV'S and a lot of times they don't do it very smoothly. Then you will be doing the prep and they will be watching you as your preceptor gives you directions on the best way to do it. Then it would be your turn watching the surgical resident fumbling during surgery. :chuckle

I love teaching OR's. But now as a seasoned OR nurse, it is extremely painful sometimes when you are on call in the middle of the night and you are doing an appendectomy and the attending surgeon is stil very enthusiastic in teaching the surgical residents. And you watch a normal 45 min. appy go into 1.5-2 hours. :yawn: