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Discussion

OR to PACU??

Hello,

I had a previous post regarding leaving my OR position. I currently have interviews scheduled at another facility and I'm going to a job fair next month. I spoke with the manager and expressed my concerns, she asked me to stay and continue trying the OR (get some more time and make a decision) thus that's what I'm doing.

I'm trying to go in everyday with a open mind.

However, I started thinking about this. Once I completed a year in the OR would it be easier to transfer to PACU since the jobs sort of coincide?

Thank you for you advise! Also, please if you have ignorant comments keep them to yourself... please.

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    OR and PACU unfortunately are not very similar. I'm not saying you couldn't transfer, but!

    In my humble opinion an OR nurses "patient" is the scrub tech, anesthesiologist, and surgeon. You are making sure they have what they need. Of course you have a lot of responsibility for the patient, pressure points, safety, etc.

    The PACU nurse needs to know airway management, cardiac rhythms, use of all types of oxygen delivery, narcotic reversal drugs, narcotics, antiemetics, blood pressure agents, etc. Things the OR nurse doesn't usually deal with.

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    PACU nursing tends to require some critical care background, at least in the facilities in my area. OR and PACU really aren't that similar beyond taking care of the patient in the perioperative phase of care.

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    I certainly believe that having the OR background would give you a very well rounded and functional understanding of the patient's entirety of care throughout the perianesthesia process, but I must agree with the other posts. OR and PACU are very different fields of care. Of course, both are very specialized and require a certain skill level with their respective Nursing duties, nothing you couldn't pick up, but a big change no less. Would you or your supervisor(s) be opposed to maybe you shadowing for a shift or two in PACU to make sure it jives with what your interests are? I work in PACU and some of my colleagues are ex-OR circulators, they're awesome nurses and their OR knowledge does come in handy from time to time.

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