christySN

I took the nclex on July 7 and checked the pearson website and found out I passed on July 9 (75 ques). I am going to start an RN internship in the OR at a large teaching hospital in St. Louis in Aug. It is a 6 month paid internship rotating through all 10 surgical services. I am very excited and very nervous to get started. I am excited because I will finally be working as a nurse but I am nervous because it will be all new info that I didn't learn in nursing school because we had such a limited exposure to the OR in school. But what I did experience in the OR during school was fascinating. After the 6 mos is over then I can choose which of the 10 surgical services I want to work in -- depending there is an opening in the service I choose! The services are ortho, ENT, plastics, cardio-thoracic, vascular, opthamology, GYN-GU, general surgery, ambulatory, neuro.

I will graduate on May 14 and have been offered a position in Perioperative Services. A large teaching hospital in St. Louis (more than 60 operating rooms)offers a Perioperative Services Nurse Internship Program for new grads. It includes 6 months of training rotating through all the services. Upon, completion of the program you choose the service you would like to work in (providing there is an opening in that service and they offer you a position). When I interviewed with the Director and Manager they emphasized this program is designed for new grads and would like to recruit more new grads into OR nursing. They seem to be looking for new grads who like the one-to-one patient focus, want to be part of a team, realize the role of the nurse as the patient advocate in the OR and an interest in the technology of the OR. Unlike the other areas of the hospital, you cannot work in the OR as a Graduate Nurse (GN). I must pass the NCLEX before I can start the internship. So I plan to take the NCLEX in June, take the month of July off (much needed after juggling nursing school, familiy obligations, and work for 2 1/2 years) then start the internship at the beginning of August. I am looking so forward to becoming an OR nurse!

Thank you for your words of encouragement. I look forward to becoming an OR nurse. It is hard trying to determine what area of nursing will be the best fit for my personality and skills but I believe it is the OR. So after graduation on May 14 and passing the NCLEX this summer, I anticipate beginning my career in the OR. If there are any other new grads out there that are choosing the OR it would be great to get your thoughts and opinions!

Maybe I should not have put respectable in quotes - that is my interpretation based on responses to my choosing the OR. What they say is that they would be bored, or wouldn't like not having patient contact, or being the docs go-fer. So I get the sense that some nurses think that OR nursing is not as challenging or fulfilling. I have heard student nurses say that they would be afraid they would not get a chance to do what we learned in school - that it doesn't seem like real nursing. I know it is different than floor nursing and that is why I am interested in it. I am looking forward to being an OR nurse and I was just surprised by some reactions. Have you ever experienced this?

I am graduating on May 14 and have been interviewing for nursing jobs. I interviewed with medicine and surgical units and perioperative services. I have been a Patient Care Tech on med/surg floors so I have a good idea about nursing on those floors and have decided it is not for me - I have cleaned up enough C Diff poop to last a lifetime! I really enjoyed my clinical rotation in the OR and did an 8 hour job shadow following a patient from pre-op, to the OR and into PACU. I like the focus on one patient, working as a team for one patient, and the techinal aspects that OR nursing provides. The hospital I work at has a 6 month OR RN internship program that I interviewed for and I was offered the position. I am thrilled. I do find it interesting that when my friends who are floor or ICU nurses or my classmates who are going to med/surg, ICU or ED areas react to my going into the OR as an area of nursing that is not as "respectable" or "real nursing" like med/surg, ICU or ED. Is this a common reaction or belief among non-OR nurses? How do you deal with the condescending remarks? I am excited about this career choice - I don't want anyone to bring me down!

Thanks for your reply. I am going to do a 5 hour "job shadow" in the OR tomorrow. The manager encourages those interested in the OR to do a job shadow first before interviewing for the perioperative nurse internship. I am looking forward to seeing the OR again since I only had one day in the OR during clinicals (that was last summer). I know this won't be enough to really tell if the OR is the right fit for me but I am hoping it will help in the decision making process.

I am a nursing student that will graduate in May 2004. The large university medical center where I attend school and work part time as a patient care tech has a perioperative services nurse internship program for new grads. It provides 2 weeks of theory and basic skills, one month of clinicals in preop, one month in the OR and one month in post-op. Then you choose one of those three areas and receive 3 months of orientation with a preceptor. Does this sound like a good training program? Can a new grad be successful in perioperative services without working on the floor first? I would appreciate any advice experienced periop nurses have. thank you.