RNOTODAY

Oops! My bad!

Firstly , congratulations to the OP on recovering and being ready on returning to nursing ! i have a similar issue. I have been out approaching the 4th year . Part my health, part taking care of my mom whom has cancer. I’m recovered, she’s doing ok , plus I have help now for her which I did not before. So I’m fully ready and NEED to go back to work . I’ve only done OPerating Room and want to return there. So to start I assume to explain the huuuge gap in my history- I simply state the truth, correct, ? Ok now, these RN Refresher classes have NOTHING to do with the OR, it is geared towards unit, medical surgical nursing, so taking one would not benefit me... can anybody give me any ideas on what I COULD do instead? What’s my first step? I feel like I lost my career, that it’s over, and I’m starting to get depressed over it! Any and all ideas you can give me to get BACK TO THE OR, id be so grateful for!! Thank you in advance! is my nursing career over? I feel very lost

#HOURS!!!???

Once, I totally forgot to put SCDs on the patient, I noticed when we took the drapes down.... I was beside myself, totally felt so guilty and terrified that the patient would suffer a deadly blood clot ??‍♀️ I made sure the attending kept me in the loop about that patient! He was fine, no clot.

That makes so much sense... but, in my last position, we were absolutely FORBIDDEN to match up the wrappers to make the count correct. It didn’t matter if you had Precisely the right wrappers to match your suture, if the count was wrong on the count sheet- it was wrong, period end of story, call X-ray and start your incident report !

In the three facilities I've worked in, Yes, the OR did get a higher rate than the rest of the nurses in the hospital. Besides the higher rate, Generally, the reason OR nurses make more money is basically due to the call that is required of us; plus, in every OR I've worked in, there was PLENTY of overtime to be had if you were interested. I was ALWAYS interested.

If I were management, my response to this surgeon, would be the following: “ Well it sounds like you don’t actually need a room AT ALL ; sounds like an office case to me” Of course, I do realize I could say this only in my HEAD ?

Umm , we are so concerned with getting the case started, that I don’t even think I’d know HOW to open a room without flipping!! ? it’s always been an accepted practicefrom management/ educators for us to do it , too.. of course providing we flipped it “ correctly “ and didn’t contaminate anything.which when rushing and flipping, you gotta be vigilant because it’s easy to do!

That’s helpful advice,,to identify what is the SAME, with each case rather than what’s different.... because thinking wayyy back to my very first days in the OR, I absolutely didn’t do that.. it took me a little while to actually KNOW, and have in stone in my head;,that ... OK.. this is your routine, your flow For every single case, every single patient.,you must do these things, first, THEN, you can give your attention to the specifics of whatever case you are doing. It SOUNDS so simple and like it should come naturally, but honest, it doesn’t!! I spent a while , just trying to stay afloat above, what I perceived to be chaos ..with each case,,when I actually could have made it better for myself if I applied what you said!!! I remember vividly those early days, and how this advice would have made a huge difference for the better!! Great post !!

I agree... compared to floor nursing; the OR is easy... Why? Because... most of the time... if there is a problem in the OR, someone in the room knows exactly what to do to FIX it.. and done..,carry on with the job.. on the floors... problems last for hours/ days/ weeks... and once you’ve gotten a taste of that instant gratification of a job well done in the OR.. everything else seems difficult. To me, anyway.. plus? It’s easy if you ❤️ LOVE IT !!

Yes- thank you! I’ve heard:” The OR is boring “ “It isn’t REAL nursing “ A. A good percentage of RNs would DECOMPENSATE and RUN AWAY, if they had to do our job for 1 hour.. so if you are saying the OR is boring, you have absolutely zero knowledge of what we do. It’s the complete opposite of boring! B. No, it is JUST not TRADITIONAL nursing, we care for patients , just in a different capacity....just like floor nurses care for patients; ours just happen to be under anesthesia, being cut by a surgeon, who,,by the way-.might as well be considered the 2nd patient! Because you are responsible for everything he needs, to keep him happy.... WHY? Because that’s MY patient under those drapes , on that table... and who wants an irritated, distracted surgeon who doesn’t have what he needs , performing surgery on you? I don’t want that for MY patients...I want my surgeon calm, confident in his team, and everything he needs within reach and ensure every case runs smoothly , because, again , THATS MY PATIENT HES CUTTING...

THIS... I remember when I was at my first job in an OR-the heart team appeared so badass and confident- and they were; IN the HEART rooms .. I was simply shocked one afternoon, hearts were done for the day - but of course the rest of the OR was running, so they pulled a couple heart nurses to help out. WELL.... the main Rockstar, prima Donna heart Nurse was assigned to me and my room ( I was almost off orientation) It was a mere LAP CHOLE; and the Rockstar , literally almost had a STROKE! “WHAT? I’m not working this room, I’m not familiar with these towers , etc etc@ on and on... and she was FUMBLING around the room , TOTALLY frazzled with very SIMPLE things..I was totally AMAZED!! I mean at this point, me, brand new to the OR just months ago- a lap chole was routine to me!! This girl just completely decompensated!!! It gave me a WHOLE new perspective, on a lot of things that day!! I remember thinking “ you do hearts, but put you in a lap chole and you can’t function “ what’s wrong here... Insert my heart rotation.... 3 weeks it was. Now PLEASE, do not take this the wrong way, they are extremely good at what they do and deserve respect. However , I observed , that, the case are the SAME, week after week, same positioning for every case, and you basically work with your own group of co workers . I thought to myself: “ If I did the SAME cases week after week; supine position for every patient, worked with the same tech every case... *ID* be a Rockstar, TOO! How could you not? “ Ill tell you, it’s intense in the heart rooms, but... I’ll TAKE IT any DAY over being thrown in the main , one specialty to the other, running your ass off, fetch this machine and that machine...,GO GET THIS, that’s not working, fix it... etc Know what I mean , anybody???‍♀️

The Trauma center. Hands down, you’ll learn soooo much

Before going to the lead- essentially over your preceptors Head- You should have been more stern with your preceptor that you needed her in the room and didn’t feel comfortable... surely if you INSISTED, she would stay? That’s what I would have done differently...

Hi! I have about 10 years total OR experience. I’ve been an R.N. for 17 years...my license is active . here’s my issue: I’ve been out of work for what is approaching the 4 th year ( ? I hate writing it ) I am ready , & I want and desperately NEED to return to FT work in the OR. I am aware that typically, RNs who have been out of work this long are advised to take a R.N. Refresher course.,Now I’d have no problem doing this:,except, they are geared toward medical / surgical FLOOR/ UNIT nursing, so I’m thinking , will this even be WORTH it? I mean , you know that those areas and the OR couldn’t be any more different ??‍♀️Do any of you know a nurse who came back to the OR, after taking one of these ” generic” courses? Would an OR manager even see any value in it?? Any and all info you can give me to put me in the right direction BACK to the OR would help so much.. I’d be so grateful-,you have no idea how I miss the OR ( or how broke I am ?) I even miss....CALL. Yes. I miss it THAT BAD. Thanks in advance!