OR Residency

Specialties Operating Room

Published

Hey ya'll. I'm a brand new nurse starting an OR Residency. At the end of 6 months, I will be on my own. Sounds like a long time, but there is a LOT to learn. Can nurses who work in the OR give me tips on how best to prepare myself for independence? There is so much going on in the room that my head spins. Do I watch the surgeons, scrub and anesthesiologist to help anticipate what they will need or do I focus on charting and the patient? Do I need to watch the surgeries so I learn the anatomy and processes? I'm guessing your answer will be to watch them all...but I feel like i'm not helping myself by trying to do it all at once. What should I focus on first? What were things that you did that helped you catch on quick? Any advice is welcome. THANKS

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Specializes in PACU.

Ahhh, the wonderful world of the OR, mind I only take a ramble through when I'm on call and they need a second hand, or if it's a super interesting case. I work PACU and normally don't have the to go in, but when I'm an call there's usually only one patient that I'm waiting for so I will.

Focus on the patient pre-operatively, thats were you assess and get all the info you need. Once the patient is under and draped, the focus seems to shift to the docs. (which is ok because they are focused on the patient.) And with so many different surgeons doing the same surgery in different ways, I think it'll be a while before you are anticipating what they need. So I wouldn't worry about that now.

Your trainer will let you know, one of my good friends just switched from PACU to OR, right now she is focused on learning the charting, counts and how to scrub and drape. After that will come the instruments (or case carts that need to be pulled) and where everything is located, so when it's not on the case cast and the surgeon requests it you can get it quick.

I can't tell you after that, she hasn't gotten that far to tell me. ;)

I barely ever see the OR circulator watching the surgeries, they seem much to busy doing their other tasks.

Hopefully some circulators will come along and give you good advice, you may want to ask the moderators to move this to the Operating Room Nursing form, or go there and search for this topic, bet it's been discussed before.

https://allnurses.com/operating-room-nursing/what-do-operating-426443.html

https://allnurses.com/operating-room-nursing/tips-for-new-1001302.html

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Specializes in Peri-Op.

The answer to your question(s) is yes....

Of all those I focus on charting last, the better you are at it the less you have to worry about it. Being tech savy and computer literate helps alot. Eventually you learn how to get through your chart quickly by "charting by exception", i note anything out of the ordinary. Sometimes in emergency or trauma cases i just chart later.

Also 6 months isnt that long, generally you will maybe feel comfortable at a year and proficient in 2 years.

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