lm2009

Write him up. I waited forever to write up a surgeon that belittles everyone in the room and makes rude and condescending comments throughout the day. In five years there were probably multiple times I should have written him up and I just let it go, shrugging it off as "surgeon behavior." Then a few months ago, he yelled at me and pointed his finger in my face in the OR while the patient was still awake in front of not only my scrub, but my nursing student and the anesthesiologist as well. I had absolutely no problems writing him up for that. Now, I not only work with him way less, but according to the nurses that work with him often, he has more pleasant to work with. Seems like the behavioral meeting he had with the "higher-ups" did him some good.

I agree with Rose_Queen, look for a hospital that has RNs scrub and circulate. I think knowing both roles makes you stronger at both roles. It is also more fun - sometimes you need a break from circulating and sometimes scrubbing (especially when you have been standing scrubbed in a tough case for 16 hours straight). If you are an RN that only scrubs, what is going to happen when they are short RNs and desperately need someone to circulate? Every RN at our hospital is trained to scrub and circulate. If a nurse prefers to circulate, they mostly circulate and it's fine. We have a lot of nurses that prefer to scrub as well, but if they have a tech or a more senior nurse (that also prefers to scrub) in the room, they may have to circulate. Then there are also staffing issues, that seem to always come up where the charge nurse has to assign a nurse who doesn't like to scrub, to scrub a case, just because there is no one else. Vice versa applies to nurses that prefer to scrub - sometimes they have to go into a room to circulate. Above all, I think the goal is to be flexible and help the charge RN (and your fellow OR team members). It is easier to plug in the staffing gaps if you get two jobs out of one person. It all evens out and I think I scrub as much as I circulate.

I love doing both, but my preference depends on the case (and sometimes the surgeon)! Scrubbing is a lot of fun and sometimes I feel like when the case is going, there's more action. I love circulating cases where there is a lot going on - it's challenging prioritizing everyone's needs in the room. In terms of the surgeons, some of our surgeons are pretty chill (which makes scrubbing even more fun) and some of our surgeons are a little more high maintenance (surprise!), so sometimes I prefer to circulate rather than hear them complain.

We have a slush machine for most organs, but for kidneys, we usually use frozen bags of saline and crush is with a mallet that comes in the tray. I much prefer the slush machine. It's easier and it makes way better slush that me hammering the frozen bag of saline! :)

In our OR, the preoperative program last six months, so nurses new to the OR (new grads and nurses with no OR experience) must work with a preceptor (RN or CST) for the first six months of their employment. The day after they finish their six month orientation, they may be asked to "fly solo" with a strong RN or CST to help them out in the room. Our Charge RN and Educator don't like to overwhelm the newbies, so they usually keep them with preceptors (for the first week at least) and start with them breaking the Circulator and Scrub in the room (so they get a few hours on their own and build up that confidence). Our Educator is great and keeps track of what kinds of cases her students have seen over the six months and discusses with their preceptors their progress and ability. We are always short and stretched, but until those six months are up, those new RNs are untouchable, even if they have done the same procedure twenty times.

Hi, I'm Graduating in December with my BSN and I've heard the the market for new grads is pretty tough. Anyone have an idea if it would be easier to get a job in New York City (or an area surrounding) or in the San Francisco Bay Area? Thanks!