Positives

[nightrunner7]

Hi all! Brand new nurse and love this forum. For the past few weeks I have been reading many posts on the operating room. I am in an internship and am quite excited. Now, I KNOW it is going to be hard/challenging but also rewarding once I eventually know what I am doing (which I know can take quite awhile). But I feel this is the place for me and could not do any other type of nursing. I know I must grow "a thick skin" and so forth. But I was just curious to hear about positive experiences with internships or time in the OR. It just seems that I have been reading about a lot of negatives or awful experiences and this just makes me nervous! Any advice would be great!

[elb252]

Welcome to allnurses!!

I'm in an OR internship right now. There are those "bad" days that you're going to have (esp. as a student/intern, because you can't apply too many of your skills from nursing school and are basically at the bottom of the barrel). However, if you're looking for positives...You have a tighter niche with the people you work with as opposed to other areas of nursing, such as working on the floor. You almost become friends with other nurses, scrubs, residents, surgeons, etc. You don't think it will happen, but because you spend so much time with the same people, it really does. I've only been in my internship for 6 weeks, and with some of the people I"ve talked to, I feel like I've known them forever. If you're at a teaching hospital, the nurses and scrubs are wonderful, knowledgeable individuals to learn from.

One other positive thing about the OR...you will get to see so much, especially when you're scrubbed in. Some of my best days in the OR have been when I've seen a kidney turn pink for the first time during a transplant, or watching the beating heart during an aortic valve replacement. The trauma surgeries are really neat to experience too, and it's always interesting reading/hearing about the cases behind the patients coming in for surgery. It's so neat to just be involved in different aspects of the OR...it's not something I can explain well to someone else, because the person just has to experience it for him -/herself.

My advice, from one intern to another, is to wear your rough skin well on your bad days. I have had both surgeons and nurses I've precepted who have made me cry; the key is just to not let them catch you doing it (that's why masks are good sometimes...haha). Try to do as much as the nurse you're with will allow you to do because it him/her know that you care about the position, and that you're serious about it. Ask questions about the procedure, instruments, why things are being done the way they are, etc. Offer assistance in stocking, prepping and cleaning up the room, charting, answering the phone, etc...whatever you can think of that will make your nurse's life easier. Just don't make the mistake that I've seen other students make: BROWN NOSING! :-p

Just remember, you're going to have your bad days, and meet really cruel surgeons and nurses; but you're also going to have a lot of GOOD (or at least easy-going) days and form a lot of different relationships with your co-workers. Also, if you're seeing a really neat surgery or are just in a general good mood, don't let others rain on your parade. Just do your best as an intern...others will see in time what a responsible nurse you are becoming, and will naturally gain respect for you.

Goodness that was long. Good luck in your OR journey! :-)