OR Nursing Questions...?

[MerDerlvr4ever]

Can anyone tell me how I can become an OR nurse? What schooling is required? How long does it take? Can I become an OR nurse right out of school?

I want to get my BSN. and then be an OR nurse asap

[MamaCheese]

You can try to find a OR Nurse Residency program sponsored by a local hospital or take the AORN Periop 101 program through a local college/university. The college course is pricey and you'll be paying out of pocket, the hopital sponsored program is payed for by your facility and you'll be on the clock making money while taking it. Or you can just apply like crazy and hope someone will hire a nurse with no OR experience but that's an unlikely scenario.

Sadly, the residency programs are hard to come by. Good luck.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

If you go to a university hospital, they have GREAT nurse residency programs that will enable to you work and learn at the same time, just as the previous post stated. They are competitive, so you must keep your grades up and it wouldn't hurt to have a few letters of rec in hand when you apply for these programs.

I think it is just wonderful that you know exactly what you want to do when you graduate. You will be introduced to so many areas of nursing while you are in school, so if you change your mind, don't feel that you are "cheating" yourself by switching focus.

Congrats to you! We are all pulling for you! Come visit us often with questions. This is a wonderful e-community.

[LAM2010, BSN]

I got hired right after college (BSN). When we had our last semester leadership/management clinicals, I chose the O.R. (they gave us choices and did their best to give us what we requested). Then after I graduated I asked for a job there and they hired me after 2 interviews. Since I knew of a person there who got hired before passing boards, who didn't pass the first time, and the managers were not feeling good about their decision to hire her at that moment, I chose to pass my boards first before applying there... So I had to wait 2 months after graduating to apply there.

So I would suggest that if you go to nursing school, find ways to get some clinical/observation time in an O.R. And ask them lots of questions while you're there, take initiative if you have the opportunity, and keep in contact with them :)

The one perioperative residency program in my city required us to have at least a year of CNA or nurse tech/nursing assistant experience to even be considered for the program. I didn't have that. But I got hired at the small hospital I did my clinical in and they were great at supporting me through my orientation period (which I think I'm still in, although I run almost all my cases by myself now, 7 months in).

Up until I applied at this place, no other O.R. would even consider new grads (I tried even if their ads said they wanted experience). It was hard to get a job anywhere except in a LTC place, for me, not having any experience as a tech or extern outside of school clinicals. Thank goodness I got into my job by "knowing" one person I worked with in clincals. :)