OR Nurses that Make $$$$$

Jarnaes · Oct 20, 2006

Most facilities have a lunch relief schedule. If you need a BR break- just let the charge nurse know and they will find someone to cover your room.

OR is just like the floor, there is an evening/night shift that will take over so that the day crew can go home. At times they may have more rooms going than the incoming staff can support and that's when the OT comes into play... you get to stay and finish the case.

Super long cases may have a couple of shifts support them i.e. you leave at the end of your shift- come back in the AM and relieve the night nurse from the same case... (but those marathon cases are few and far between in most hospitals).

Good luck to you. OR nursing is a lot of fun. OR nurse creed: The worst day in the OR is still better than the best day on the floor!!!!

ortess1971 · Oct 21, 2006

I have 2 main reasons why I am considering the OR. I liked it when I did my clinicals in school & I know that floor nursing is not the best fit for me. I cannot give my patients the time & care that they should be getting. I feel really bad about this. I would prefer the one to one relationship in the OR with the patient. I want to be able to give one patient 100%. Not just pop in on them now & then during the day.
Salary has to also weigh in my decision because I am self-sufficient. I need to be in a job that offers OT. I have to talk to my HR dept to get the details on the OR shifts. I prefer 12 hour shifts. Before doing so, I wanted to get an idea about being in the OR from the nurses on this site.
I don't want to get in over my head. I only have 6 months in Med/Surg & 7 months in Cardio. I was thinking about putting in for a transfer to the OR after I have a full year of Cardio.
How much experience did some of you have before working in the OR? Do you think a year of Cardio & 6 months of M/S would be enough?
Thank you.

You don't need any med/surg or cardio, actually. Is it going to hurt you? No, but the OR is nothing like the floors. We do assess pts labs, skin integrity etc but I went right to the OR after nursing school and am doing well. If you want to go for the OR now, you'd be fine. Actually, I believe that you may have to put most of the med/surg ways of doing things out of your mind and just soak up the OR way of doing things. Critical thinking is very important and thinking quickly and staying calm are also crucial. Can you ask to shadow an OR nurse for a day? That might give you a good feel if the OR is for you. Good luck!

nurseontheloose · Oct 21, 2006

i am a travel or nurse with 13 years of experience in nursing, 3 years or. am i doing something wrong in my contract, i think i am getting the short end of the deal.. need help any suggestions?

shodobe · Oct 22, 2006

Yes, a few months or more on a M/S floor will benefit you alot. This has been a ongoing conversation for quite awhile. I DO think having M/S experience is very important to function independently in the OR. There are many out, especially the NEW grads, who feel they can handle it from a patient assessment point. In all of my years working in the OR I can spot a new grad, in the OR, a mile off. The mistakes and overlooking of important stuff is always a problem. The newbie could have been the brightest in their class but still overlook critical aspects of the surgical patient. It is one thing to have to train a nurse, fresh to the OR, but to have to take time to tell them what to look for in pre-oping the patient is time consuming. I know I will get a few nay-sayers and they can do it all, but this is only my opinion. Do what ever you feel is the best for you.

mtnrunnerRN · Oct 29, 2006

it's helpful to have some med/surg & tele experience -- besides the clinical & assesment reasons, when you understand the "flow" of how the whole hospital works, and not just how the or works, it makes your job & other nurse's jobs on the floor easier. then, when you have a pt coming down from the floor, it's easier to understand why certain things happen (the iv doesn't run, the chart's not all together, etc.) and also anticipate what to ask for. those nurses are busy and have more pt's to look after than just yours! i had 8 months of medical floor experience -- enough to learn something & enough to appreciate that my job in the or is luxury compared to that.

the one-on-one aspect of or nursing really is great. while your time with each pt when they're awake is brief, it's also a very intense & important time to them when they're facing undergoing general anesthesia. i've found that aspect is very rewarding. also, every now & then you get a very difficult pt & at those times i'm thankful that i won't be trying to keep them from climbing out of they're bed & injuring themselves for the next 12 hrs... they're soon going to be in snoozy-land & then off to pacu when they're waking up!

find yourself a good perioperative learning program (6 months training, dedicated preceptors) & check it out! good luck

ortess1971 · Oct 30, 2006

Yes, a few months or more on a M/S floor will benefit you alot. This has been a ongoing conversation for quite awhile. I DO think having M/S experience is very important to function independently in the OR. There are many out, especially the NEW grads, who feel they can handle it from a patient assessment point. In all of my years working in the OR I can spot a new grad, in the OR, a mile off. The mistakes and overlooking of important stuff is always a problem. The newbie could have been the brightest in their class but still overlook critical aspects of the surgical patient. It is one thing to have to train a nurse, fresh to the OR, but to have to take time to tell them what to look for in pre-oping the patient is time consuming. I know I will get a few nay-sayers and they can do it all, but this is only my opinion. Do what ever you feel is the best for you.

Just going by my personal experience, but the floor nurses that have come down to work in the OR have struggled far more than I have as a new grad. And this includes pre-op assessment. Recently, we had a patient whose potassium was high.Not bragging here, but the "new grad" picked up on that, not the floor nurse who was supposed to have checked the labs etc for anything out of the ordinary before sending the patient down. This patient ended up getting canceled, for the electrolytes among other things. The floors are NOTHING like the OR and IMHO, putting in M/S time if the the OR is where you want to be is a waste of time. I find that some people do not like the idea of a new grad actually getting to go right to their area of interest. They think that you have to "pay your dues" first. This is an old fashioned, outdated view and thank goodness things have changed. One of the 4 former floor nurses told me last week that she feels she "wasted" a year of her nursing career on the floor, time she could have spent training in the OR. The one part of the above post I agree with(think the rest of it was a little aggressive and nasty towards newbies!)is that you have to do what YOU think is in your best interests. Good Luck..

shodobe · Oct 30, 2006

The last post is why I don't like to post on this board. A little criticsm by someone who has more OR experience than the majority of most other posters and you are branded as old-fashioned and a dinosaur. Listen, I will be the first one to help out new nurses in the OR and I am NOT one of those who supposedly "eat " their young. Stupid label for older experienced nurses who only want to do what's best for both sides. A person will never "waste" their time on a M/S floor, unless they have the attitude to do so. Last post on this subject.

shodobe · Oct 30, 2006

The last post is why I don't like to post on this board. A little criticsm by someone who has more OR experience than the majority of most other posters and you are branded as old-fashioned and a dinosaur. Listen, I will be the first one to help out new nurses in the OR and I am NOT one of those who supposedly "eat " their young. Stupid label for older experienced nurses who only want to do what's best for both sides. A person will never "waste" their time on a M/S floor, unless they have the attitude to do so. Last post on this subject.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Oct 30, 2006

The last post is why I don't like to post on this board. A little criticsm by someone who has more OR experience than the majority of most other posters and you are branded as old-fashioned and a dinosaur. Listen, I will be the first one to help out new nurses in the OR and I am NOT one of those who supposedly "eat " their young. Stupid label for older experienced nurses who only want to do what's best for both sides. A person will never "waste" their time on a M/S floor, unless they have the attitude to do so. Last post on this subject.

Oh good grief.

Does it really harm anything if someone who is new to OR nursing decides to debate a few points that were made by someone more experienced? Or are people just supposed to nod their head "yes" in unison to whatever the experienced nurse says?

mtnrunnerRN · Oct 30, 2006

hmmm- how interesting to be considered an "experienced" nurse with only 8 months on the floor. i essentially considered myself a new grad heading into the or, with a only little bit of knowledge of another area. no, it's not in any way mandatory to have that floor experience, but in my own experience it helped me understand the whole hospital picture much better. some of the nurses i work with who have been only in the or for 2 yrs or 20 yrs seem to lack the compassion & understanding of why certain things happen with floor pts, and ultimately they are the ones who complain and seem miserable. they seem to lack the concept of working as a team with members of other departments & have more of an "us vs. them" mentality. how sad.

as for a new grad picking up on a high k+ level over an "experienced" nurse: you'll find that there are sharp nurses & there are not-so-sharp nurses, no matter how much experience & education they have. good for you, ortess, for picking up on it. i guess we all have different backgrounds & experiences before coming to the or; no one way is the only right way to do it, and we can all pitch in our own 2 cents.

ortess1971 · Oct 30, 2006

All I did was post my opinion that med/surg experience is not needed to work in the OR. Will it hurt you to have it? No, but it is not needed. I have compassion for floor nurses despite the fact that at my particular hospital, we have had a big problem with pre-op checklists not being done properly. Baseline vitals are often missing, patients come up for surgery with underwear/clothing on etc. Yes, it is indeed busy up there, but there are certain things that need to be done for pre-op patients.

What it comes down to is that the OR is very, very different from the floors and I am basing my opinion on what I have experienced. I have had coworkers who were new grads, and those who came from different areas of floor nursing. The new grads seemed to acclimate better from what I have seen. I think this is because they're starting with a blank slate, so to speak. The ex-floor nurses seem to sometimes get caught up on how they used to do things. They all got there in the end, though.

In my opinion, the post that followed mine was a little derogatory towards new grads in the OR. Note that the word "new" was in great big capital letters and there were all sorts of generalizations that new grads all make the same mistakes. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, whether they are "experienced" or not and age or experience do not automatically lend validity to someones opinion. Everyone is responsible for his/her own career, and you have to make the decision that's right for you. Signed, the uppity "new grad".. :lol2:

kato44 · Nov 3, 2006

Just going by my personal experience, but the floor nurses that have come down to work in the OR have struggled far more than I have as a new grad. And this includes pre-op assessment. Recently, we had a patient whose potassium was high.Not bragging here, but the "new grad" picked up on that, not the floor nurse who was supposed to have checked the labs etc for anything out of the ordinary before sending the patient down. This patient ended up getting canceled, for the electrolytes among other things. The floors are NOTHING like the OR and IMHO, putting in M/S time if the the OR is where you want to be is a waste of time. I find that some people do not like the idea of a new grad actually getting to go right to their area of interest. They think that you have to "pay your dues" first. This is an old fashioned, outdated view and thank goodness things have changed. One of the 4 former floor nurses told me last week that she feels she "wasted" a year of her nursing career on the floor, time she could have spent training in the OR. The one part of the above post I agree with(think the rest of it was a little aggressive and nasty towards newbies!)is that you have to do what YOU think is in your best interests. Good Luck..

What was your education like? I am considering switching to a nursing career and want to go right into OR. How does one do that? The program I am looking at is a 3-year direct entry program (I already have a BA); year 1 is full-time and you get your RN; next two years part-time or full-time, workign as RN but getting an MSN specialty. Can you, as an RN, go into OR?