Lusashi

Yes, I've noticed people like to say a lot of things about the OR. Knowing what I know now, I would never trust someone's opinion who does not work in the OR. Yes, surgeons can be ***. So can literally anyone. Usually it's a key few who give everyone trouble. It's no big deal and often they do warm up to you once they get to know you. Something I like and also don't like about the OR is how social it is. It's super team-based and there is always help around you. It can be quite fun. The bad thing is there is also sometimes drama, backbiting, etc. And "strong personalities". This all gets better as you get to know people around you. Can't beat 1:1 ratios. It's great having everyone focus their attention on 1 patient at a time. That said, most of your relationship-building is with your team, not the patient. I like building patient relationships so that would be a "dislike" for the OR. You only get an awake patient for a short time. Still, you get to be there for the patient when they are super vulnerable, and putting them at ease is rewarding. The biggest dislike/challenge for me is the time pressure. There is always pressure to get things done quickly, turn over the room, etc. You as the circulator have to learn to be quite assertive when your "spidey senses" indicate that things are moving at an unsafe speed. Your team counts on you to keep a holistic view on what is going on, and to make sure the patient is safely positioned - preferably before they are prepped and draped. Mostly I am very satisfied with my job and I'm glad I went straight for what I wanted instead of going med/surg or another specialty. You get to build good relationships with doctors and pick their brains all the time. It's super high tech with lots of new learning all the time. It's pretty physically exhausting. You're moving around heavy equipment, patients, beds, etc all day. At the end of the day I thank everyone on my team and that is very rewarding.

I did not sign a contract as a new grad/OR resident, but I also was not offered a bonus. I felt pretty strongly about not signing a contract, for the same concerns you brought up. I think 10k is actually a pretty weak offer to hold you hostage for 2 years. I will say this... a year into my position, I'm just starting to gain confidence in my skills. I would not feel ready to travel right now. A lot of travel contracts require two year experience, but not all. You are taking a chance on a new career and a new facility, so I understand not wanting to feel trapped. If you take the bonus, but end up wanting to travel before your 2 years are up, you will be able to earn back that 10k in like a month... I guess you just need to worry more about whether you want the ability to leave at any time because you don't like the facility/specialty. You could always take the bonus and not spend it and take your chances. I hope you end up loving it! Good luck with your decision.

I am a year into my OR nursing career. I did the same as you and studied Alexander's for several months before I started my residency. I felt like it really helped my foundations and made things less surprising. I wouldn't recommend reading anything about the specific surgeries, though. Experiential training is the only way you will learn a surgeon's techniques and preferences. The anesthesiologist will primarily be responsible for giving medications, but reviewing common formulations of local anesthetics might help. I think it's great you are already learning instruments. I didn't do that until the scrub portion of my training, which was about six months in. Knowing names of things is a huge part of learning curve, haha. Judging by the fact you are taking your learning so seriously and being proactive, I can tell you are going to be an excellent OR nurse. Just give yourself a lot of grace. The learning curve is steep, and getting exposed to different procedures and scenarios is the only way to improve. Good luck!

Plot twist, now the CDC’s vaccine committee has broken with the FDA and voted against providing boosters for healthcare workers and others at high risk from their jobs because “We may as well offer it to anyone 18 and above”. I understand it opens the floodgates for people to come up with reasons why they’re high risk, but where does that leave us? Healthcare workers were among the first to be vaccinated, thus the first to have waning immunity. I feel like now I’M in a position where I’m tempted to lie about being immunocompromised. I don’t want to, but I have heard of others doing it, and frankly I think they’re justified. I’m now 9 months since my last vaccine and working with COVID patients with an unknown, possible untenable, level of immunity. Anyone care to share thoughts about their access to boosters, or lack thereof? https://www.MSN.com/en-us/health/medical/CDC-advisers-recommend-booster-doses-of-covid-19-vaccine-for-certain-adults-only/ar-AAOKVkm?ocid=uxbndlbing

My two cents is that this is not a bad thing, unless it interferes with your critical thinking and/or ability to provide safe care. Your heart is open enough to bear witness to the beauty and pain of the human condition; I think that’s lovely. I for one consider it a great honor to cry with my patients, and I know they appreciate it too. Something that helps me, if I feel I am getting too caught up in an emotional situation, is to express gratitude to the patient, e.g. “thank you for the privilege of allowing me to care for you today”, “let’s keep taking this one day at a time”, “your care team is behind you 100%”, “it’s an honor to walk this journey with you”, etc. It’s not usually possible to do this during a med pass, assessment, etc., but I will do this toward the end of a shift. It makes me feel like I did something proactive/useful with my emotions, is a great release, and acts as sort of a ritual that allows me to leave the “heaviness” there instead of carrying it home. I know it’s not easy to be a sensitive person. The upside, though, is you will experience hope, joy, and redemption along with your patient as well. You can “own” your sensitivity if you can find ways to harness it productively. If you are truly disturbed by your emotionality and sense you need stronger boundaries, then maybe seeking mental health resources is best. I look forward to hearing how things progress for you!

I am a new grad (not a crusty old cob ?) and I have to say I am in agreement with the comments advising the OP against nursing. Nursing is my third career, and I entered an ABSN after earning a previous B.S. degree. I'm suddenly 60k in debt and facing the ugly realities of this career, wishing I had done some more thorough research about how to make my previous B.S. work for me. I know that as a new grad, I haven't earned the right to be this negative, but I observe the mental and physical toll on my colleagues and I'm terrified that is my future. I believe them when they say nursing has changed. I have no frame of reference for how nursing "used to be", but I can see that bedside nurses are burning out for good reason. Since I'm already in this thing, I need to make it work. I have decided to steer clear of med/surg and pursue non-hospital jobs to manage my mental health. This restricts my options significantly, but so be it. I am very very lucky to have a husband who is an established nurse, which gives me some flexibility to take a bit lower-paying position with a more manageable workflow/stress level. I am 34, with some life experiences and degrees under my belt that I could have put to better use if I had been a bit more creative. I can only imagine the same is true for you. All I am saying is to thoroughly research your options before committing to nursing school. I think the fact you are having doubts right before starting school is a big sign, and a blessing - you could go another direction before sinking any more time and money into this endeavor. I was 100% dead set on nursing school and NO ONE could have talked me out of it, yet here I am only 1.5 years later, wishing I had gotten the kind of advice being shared on this thread. I wish you the best and I know you will make the right decision for you and your family.

Hi there. They make the waitlist pretty long (60+?), just in case. I am in the program now and my original position on the waitlist was #14. I wasn't notified of my acceptance until late June. I know I was not the last person to be admitted from the waitlist, but I was pretty close. Waiting is the worst... as challenging as the program has been, waiting to hear about acceptance was still the worst! I wish you luck.

Thank you both so much for these comments! I might have to make some adjustments, but it shouldn't stop me from pursuing a career in this setting. Very helpful!

Hi all, I am graduating with my BSN in August and would love to start in the OR right after school. I am left-handed. Does anyone have any feedback about dexterity problems in the OR for left-handed people? I love to use my hands and I am a fairly dexterous person, but I have had problems at times using scissors and using other right-handed tools. Does this matter? Probably not for a circulating role, right? Might be a silly question, but something I have to consider getting into this field. I would hate to be trying to mirror a procedure on my left side and have people struggle to teach me. Thanks for the advice ✌

Last year decisions came out Dec 14th. So sorry for the wait. I know it’s brutal!!

Hmm, that’s odd. I can’t send PMs to you either, not sure if that’s because of my account or yours. But I’m happy to talk all about that stuff. Go ahead and use my school email [email protected] and I will get back to you later today!

Hi all, I’m in the current ABSN cohort. Hope you are all hanging in. It’s been a challenging quarter so far, but still not as bad as WAITING to hear back about acceptance!! I waited eight months from the time I applied to the time I got accepted from the waitlist and it makes me sick thinking about it. Wow, 500 applications is a lot. Last year I think it was ~350 and that was the record number to date. If anyone has specific questions about the program, I’m happy to chat through private message. Good luck!

Not everyone in our cohort has a baccalaureate degree related to healthcare. I'm pretty sure we had a requirement to demonstrate 100 hours of recent healthcare experience (e.g. CNA), but that doesn't seem to be a requirement this time around!

You will need to answer some questions about a patient scenario. Tough to prepare for this, but I would recommend keeping ideas about cultural humility, interprofessional collaboration, and holistic care in the forefront of your mind. Be prepared to do some math, esp. dimensional analysis. Don't neglect long division with decimals. I would do every practice question on dosagehelp.com. I took the proctored exam twice, first for ABSN and again for BSN. The first time I came in without preparing for the math and ended up completely bombing it, even though I got the right answers... You MUST show your work. It's not weighted as a huge portion of the application, but it could mean the difference between landing on the waitlist and getting accepted outright. The second time I nailed the math and I'm convinced it was the little bit extra I needed to be accepted (I changed little else about my application). Good luck to you!

I got accepted off the waitlist today! Yay! That means the waitlist has moved at least 2 spots in the past week. For reference, I started as #14. Can’t wait to meet you all!!