You know, I'm a new nurse in the OR and I got that song and dance about how I would be stuck there because I'd lose my clinical skills, but I really think it's just a matter of how you sell yourself. I want to be an NP down the line so I'll eventually change to a floor or unit.
Where I work, OR nurses put in foleys, prep, apply dressings, do quick patient assessments, and interact w/ patient and family, just like they do on the floor. Sure, you probably won't do IVs and you won't give a lot of meds, but that just means you might need to do a little studying and take an IV therapy course.
And you can always practice your assessment skills on friends and family or volunteer at a homeless shelter doing blood pressures, etc.
In the OR you can become an expert on sterile technique, an expert on multi-tasking, an expert on anatomy (if you scrub), an expert on dealing with difficult people, an expert on prioritizing (nothing says prioritize like 5 people all screaming at you to do something for them simultaneously), an expert on high-tech medical devices, an expert on debugging computer problems, etc. Depending on where you work, you also might learn about SWANS, arterial lines, chest tubes, balloon pumps--stuff that might scare the crap out of an inexperienced floor nurse. And when your patient asks you about their upcoming Nissen fundoplication or thymectomy you'll know enough about surgical terms and procedures to at least interact with them in a professional manner.
There will always be people who disagree with the idea of starting in a specialty area. In the end, you have to do what is right for you. Good luck!
