OR intern program

prplscrubs · Feb 25, 2011

typical days can very depending on what type of hospital (community, trama, etc.) hours too can very. Im my hospital we have people that work 8, 10 and 12 hour shifts.

If you are interested I would say you should apply and during the interview ask if you are allowed to do a shadow day (or shadow for a few hours) just to see what it's all about.

I started in the OR as a new grad, it can be overwhelming, but I think any specialty will be overwhelming for a new grad. good luck to you.

finallyRN7, BSN · Feb 25, 2011

Thanks a bunch prplscrubs :-)

insa · Feb 26, 2011

I'm in just such a program after getting my license in November. I'll say it's a challenge alright. My hospital sends me to another, much bigger, hospital nearby for training - we're taking Periop 101, which is a blended online course offered by AORN (Association of Perioperative Nurses). Several months of one day in the classroom and four days of clinicals at our hospital, and lots of homework on the computer and written assignments and quizzes.

I am struggling and I have a lot of days when I don't want to go to work. I wake up night worrying that I have harmed somebody. Luckily for me, I'm a second-career nurse and I have experienced this feeling before. I'm glad, in a way, to be experiencing it, finally, as a nurse. And, lucky for me, the nurses I work with are terrific and recognize what I'm going through, and they do provide reassurance. But still, it's tough.

Compared to other specialties, I think the difference is probably that they don't let you start working alone until later. They keep telling me it'll be a year before I'm working on my own. That may sound nice, compared with a 6-week orientation and then off you go on the floor with four or five patients for a whole shift - that's certainly what I thought. But that certainly doesn't mean that it isn't enormously challenging. I have almost complete confidence that if I had gone to a med-surg unit, I would have known, even when I was a struggling newbie, that eventually I could do this. With OR nursing, I find myself thinking, maybe I'll conclude that the OR isn't for me. I'd be OK with that - one of the great things about nursing is that there are so many different things you can do. But I do find that I am in a weird other world that's nothing like any of the nursing I saw in school. And I loved everything I did in school.

Final thought: one OR nurse I met told me, "I think everyone should get some experience elsewhere first, because then you know how much better it is in the OR." So: for the right person, it is SO the right place to be. I work with a ton of nurses who, I am sure, wouldn't want any other kind of nursing job.

Hope that's helpful.

finallyRN7, BSN · Feb 26, 2011

Thanks insa So much for taking the time to inform me of these things. Your info. has certainly helped me to gain insight that the OR isn't for me right now. The training sounds like a challenge and that you're kept busy. If I could afford the lack of monetary revenue in addition to the time invested, I most likely would pursue it.The program would be extra awesome for me if I got paid while I trained and be allowed to sign a contract to owe the hospital "x" amount of years once I'm done. But, I suppose that would be too much to ask! For now, I'll just have to keep hoping to land my first nursing job SOON. Best wishes to you with your training and new nursing career in the OR. Thanks again. :)

daVinciNurse · Feb 26, 2011

Thanks insa So much for taking the time to inform me of these things. Your info. has certainly helped me to gain insight that the OR isn't for me right now. The training sounds like a challenge and that you're kept busy. If I could afford the lack of monetary revenue in addition to the time invested, I most likely would pursue it.The program would be extra awesome for me if I got paid while I trained and be allowed to sign a contract to owe the hospital "x" amount of years once I'm done. But, I suppose that would be too much to ask! For now, I'll just have to keep hoping to land my first nursing job SOON. Best wishes to you with your training and new nursing career in the OR. Thanks again. :)

I did a hospital based "train our own OR nurse" program a little over 10 yrs ago. I was hired full time, full benefits after 3 months (just like any other nurse hired in the hospital). And I was "in training" for 9-10 months. I did sign a contract to stay 2 yrs after completion, but the other nurse who started with me realized 4 months in that it was NOT the right fit for her, she left and owed them nothing....they don't want you to stay if you are that unhappy/struggling. But they do want you to commit to try it.....it was a mutual decision btwn the other nurse, the educator and the director of the OR to let her leave 4 months in. But if you don't try, you won't know. Do you know for certain it is an unpaid thing? You owe it to yourself to at least find out more. I've never heard of a hosptial offering to train but not paying--some local colleges offer a course that you do pay for and do a clinical component, that would not be paid time. But if the hospital is seeking to train, they really should be offering you a job with regular pay/benefits.