ClimbEveryMountain

Definitely apply to Sono Bello! Let your enthusiasm for the specialty and eagerness to learn shine! You miss 100% of the shots you don't take! Good luck!

You cannot work as an OR Nurse anywhere without having your RN. It's not an area where LPN scope creep happens. Any experience in the OR can increase your chances of becoming an OR nurse. Yes, it's hard to get into, and with good reason:the OR makes money for the hospital. Pretty much everything else (especially the floors) is a drain. Ask for a tour, shadow, informational interview, whatever you can do in person, to show your interest. See if it is what you think it is. What you write sounds like desperation to get away from LTC misery (can't say I blame you there). You need hope right now; I understand that. Apply for other OR jobs like scheduler, PCT, transporter, OR Assistant, case picker, or anesthesia tech. Search words like intraoperative, perioperative, and post operative. Look at other things an LPN can do to get procedural type experience or literally anything else than LTC. Personally, I think one can learn a lot in LTC, it is just often an extremely unsupported environment. Take care of yourself. Best of luck to you.

OR Nursing is a highly specialized, fast-paced, team sport, requiring really good training and it is 1:1, so the understaffing effects the OR less in some ways, more in others. You cannot be forced to take on more than one patient at a time, because you literally cannot be in two rooms at once. That's the good news. The bad news: There is sometimes call that's actually mandatory overtime, instead of truly being on call and getting callback and its pay. That means, depending on the state, you could be working shifts that are 16 hours straight. Even without call, if there's incoming and not enough staff, you could be mandated to stay much longer than your scheduled shift. Depending on the OR, what's going on, and the shift you are working, you may not get a break, or even a lunch, for that time, because it was considered an unavoidable emergency and that that is the oft-used loophole around labor laws. However, if you get in a good place, with adequate support, and no silliness like listed above, with professional teams and decent, professional management, it's a fabulous job like no other. FWIW, I'd recommend using your LPN to get hired as a scrub tech, somewhere they will teach you to scrub. You will make LPN money or more and have what is the basis of being an OR Nurse down-sterile technique and what it means to be surgically clean as well. Opening cases, counting, helping position patients, team building, OR culture, making valuable connections, learning instruments, turnovers, and much more, will form the basis of a career. Good luck to you in following your dream. It's a career that you could very much enjoy.

It's not you. It's not a specific nursing environment. It's the very fabric of nursing. It isn't a personal failure in any way on your behalf to not be able to work with the toxicity and mess that is nursing. A resounding majority get out, it's not some badge of honor to stay in it and be able to "deal with it". Your story is similar to many and I just want to repeat that it isn't in any way, shape, or form you. I wish you health, healing and happiness. I hope to be not far behind you. Thank you for bravely sharing your story and inspiring myself and others. Take care of you ?

I vote for PMHNP, giving you the ability to do telehealth and med management from home when you are done. I have worked with one remotely and she is amazing!

When applying/interviewing, I would check the postings and ask up front. There is really no reason to work for someplace that requires you to scrub, especially if you don't want to. As you know, there are significant disadvantages to scrubbing, unless it's a job function you enjoy. Once they know that you know how to scrub, you can get stuck doing that almost all of the time. If that's not something you enjoy, it can make for a long day/week/month/career.

You just got your get out of jail free card. Consider yourself fortunate, thank your luck stars, and move on to a beautiful life.