OR or CRNA route???

[nurse0421]

I am a soon to be new grad, and I LOVE the OR. I've worked as an OR tech for a while, and I love the idea of nursing in the OR setting. I'm looking for opinions; should I start in an OR as a circulator, hopefully learn to scrub, go the APRN/RNFA route, or should I suck it up and work in an ICU, and go the CRNA route. Money is somewhat an object here, I know ultimately I would earn more as a CRNA but if I am able to end up making just a little more as an APRN/RNFA than I would as just an RN I would be fine with that too. Keep in mind I am in the NYC metro area and will hopefully have plenty of opportunities to start in big level 1 trauma centers which would be great for CRNA school, not so great for RNFA because a lot of them are teaching hospitals so residents primarily assist in surgery. 

[Spring2023]

Could you elaborate on what APRN and RN FP stand for ? As far as CRNA, it has got a promising future. We here in California get paid 220000 annually per annum. OR nurse is a good option, but it depends on how early you want to retire. CRNA has a bright future considering only limited CRNA candidates are now in the job market.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

RNFAs (RN first assistants for the poster asking above) do tend to make more than a staff RN in the OR, because they have the expanded scope. In my experience, I've seen them paid at the same level or a little above manager salary when employed by the facility. I've also worked with those employed by a surgical group, but have no insight on salary there.

It's going to boil down to what you want to do with your future, and keep in mind that while money can make life easier, it isn't everything. If you don't like your job, is it really worth the money when you spend such a huge percentage of your awake time in misery?