KHasenstein

Hello! I am currently an RN surgical educator for surgery who is going back for my NP. In my experience, the NPs that we have coming into surgery do not have additional training within the perioperative environment, but it definitely is something that would be beneficial if that is where you are looking to end up. Being a surgical NP is what I am looking to do as well, and I'm hoping that by being familiar with the environment it will give me a leg up. It's definitely a much different environment than that of a floor nurse, and because of that the orientation takes at least 6 months. By having that background knowledge, I would assume that it would make you more marketable as an NP - especially as most of the time a surgical rotation for clinicals could be difficult to come by. Where I am employed, if a new NP is hired to assist and has no experience in the OR, they will train you to suture and assist on the job. However, I can tell you that as a previous circulator, the awareness of the surgical environment and sterile technique is very different for those outside of the OR. Body awareness is something that definitely needs to be learned. Saying this, I would try to get into the specialty as an RN and then go for your NP from there. Best of luck!