maeyken

One way to get a feel for the environment would be to see if you can shadow an OR nurse for a day- just to see what all goes into the job. For me, just observing a few cases during nursing school was enough for me to be really interested in OR nursing, and when an opportunity arose I jumped at the chance. I have absolutely no regrets... I love my job! (most days!!!) I have been there 3.5 years now. Before that I worked on a GI/Gen Surg floor... I could do the job but I didn't love it. I am so glad I left and went to the OR.

In the OR I work in, people who come new to the OR have to complete their orientation period and I think about 3mos full time, and then can go part time (that's about 6mos full time). We have been really short of part time staff though, so those were open postings they were accepted into. Are there part time positions available in your unit? If there are, it might be easier to convince your manager to let you go part time. Really, you'd think it would be better to have someone go part time than to leave completely...

We have a minor procedure area where we do small cases under local only. (no anesthetist, only one nurse and the surgeon). There is no option for sedation here, so if a surgeon thinks their patient can't handle it, they have to book it in the main OR. We do cystoscopy, carpal tunnel, trigger finger release, many little "lumps and bumps" removals (lipomas, potential skin cancers, moles, etc), some smaller ENT things (occ. myringotomy, polyp remvoal, etc).

ANY outside cases go through ER whether they come from another hospital, a doctor's office, clinic, etc. If we're not ready for them, and they have a bed, then they go to the floor to wait for us. :)

the only reason i can think of to stay at your hospital would be for seniority, but if you are just starting as an RN I don't know if you would retain any of that seniority. if you don't, there's no reason to stay.

The only time I've been affected by gas in the OR is when we're inducing kids by mask. As they go through the excitation phase they wiggle a lot and sometimes we get more of the gas than they do! haha not really but it seems that way sometimes!! Once the circuit is hooked up, the machine takes care of the gasses (as explained above) I am often tired after work, especially after working a 10h shift, or an evening shift. It's an exhausting job, especially when you first start! Your body should get used to it eventually! Just make sure you are getting a good night's sleep. :)

Wow, I didn't realize how lucky we are where I work. We're staffed 24/7, (for weekends/holidays- 3 on days, evenings, 2 on nights) The only call we do is one person from day shift will take call for evening shift, and one person from evening shift will take call for nights. So if you would need to stay or get called back, it would be 16h working. But then some people do doubles when we're short and that's definitely 16h.

We too have 10h shifts, but we are staffed 24/7. We have a choice of whether to bank the time, or take the money. We do a fair amount of OT, but it is counted as such. Doesn't make management happy, but it's that or cancel more cases (which they don't want us to do either...)

All our fibers are disposable. I think we have a couple old re-usable (sterilized!!) ones kicking around. But NEVER unsterile! And as for leaving the laser unattended?!?! Huge NO NO! We have RNs trained in lasers, and have our own holmium, CO2, and greenlight lasers. I can't imagine any of them leaving a laser unattended. It wouldn't be allowed! That rep must not value his job at all.

We used Alexander's in my course... and the standards binder of course!!

I am a Dansko convert as well. Just got my first pair about 4 months ago, and absolutely love them! What I found though, is that each pair fits differently, so try on several in your size if possible. I tried on 5 different pairs before settling on mine. I thought I might have trouble with my ankles (I am a chronic ankle-sprainer) but after the first week I didn't have problems anymore... plus my feet stopped aching at the end of every day. They're not for everyone, but I think they're worth a try!!

Nope! :) Working for 2 teams, like you said, causes your attention to be split between the two teams, who are doing different things. It's not like you've got 2 surgeons working on the same hole... it's 2 separate surgeries. I think they should provide nurses for both teams. Good for you for trying to change it. Too often we nurse just suck it up and deal with it... and complain to each other!!

We only have 8's and 10's, but we all rotate through them.

In our facility, we don't do hearts, but in terms of opening items, the only items we DON'T hand to the scrub nurse are drapes, towels, gowns, and things like that. Everything else is handed directly to the scrub. This is a fairly new policy for us, and it's taking a bit of getting used to.... but I think over all it's good.

Our surgeons do one part at a time, so it's the same scrub nurse for the whole thing.