OR interview scheduled this week..advice?

jennifer16nurse · Feb 8, 2005

Hello, I have been an Operating Room Nurse for almost 3 years now. I also went straight from grad to the O.R. I love what I do, but there are some drawbacks to going into a specialty area right after grad. I feel like I missed out out on a lot of experience that you get when you work on the floors. I am a scrub nurse, so I do not get to do IV's, patient care and ect due to me being scrubed in. I also feel that going to the OR right after grad was what hurt me when I took my RN boards. Maybe it is just me, but I feel like I would have done better or passed my boards the first time getting floor experience. The Operating Room is so awsome and so interesting, but the Doc's can be hard to work for also. I have got my butt chewed more times than I can count, so you have to have thick skin in order to work down there. If they smell fear in any way, they will eat you alive. I found that out, but I have toughened up in these past 3 years, the Doc's don't bother me anymore. Any more questions feel free to e-mail me. Good luck to you if you choose to take the job, it is really rewarding! :balloons:

MelissaRN · Feb 21, 2005

I worked for a year as an acute care RN on a ortho/neuro floor. The stress and constantly trying to coordinate care for several patients at once was tricky especially when you had new admits and post ops on top of all that. The OR is stressful but at least you have other members of the team there helping you out.

My time in accute care helped me to be able to strengthen my assessments skills and I saw first hand how important proper positioning on the OR table is to avoid skin break down. As for putting in IV's. Well we don't do that in the OR, but heck when I was on the floor I was always so busy I had to get a resource nurse to come up and give me a hand. I just like the pace of the OR and the fact that we don't have to work as many weekends and holidays as you do on the floor.

squareface · Apr 14, 2005

Thanks for the responses! I was offered the position in the OR yesterday and I accepted! I'm so excited!! I graduate August 4th and the periop 101 class starts the last week of August. I can't believe I got this awesome opportunity. The interview process was very competitive. I interviewed in early Feb. and they just made offers to a handful of people yesterday. I'm so glad I'm in!

grimmy, RN · Apr 14, 2005

i've been lucky enough to start out in the or directly from nursing school, and i don't regret it. i was a pct for the last 2 years of nursing school, and i could see how i would not truly appreciate being on a floor. i love my job, even though i've only been a nurse for 10 months. the orientation was very, very tough, and taking call can be nerve-wracking at times. the best times are when we work as a team, and you feel like everything is working in sync. i do get patient contact. i scrub and circulate, and i make what little nursing contact there is a high priority. our contact with patients occurs when they are at their most vulnerable, so our contact is critical. never dis-count that. i hope you get through the interview with flying colors. choose a place where the people are the kindest, where people say hello readily. after a while, money won't mean all that much, but being happy with the people you work with will be paramount. good luck. :)