DLuxe

1) Many places say they want experience but I wouldn't let that discourage you. When I was looking for a job as a new grad I had HR tell me that the hospital DID NOT hire new grads in the OR. Well, I applied for it anyways and got the job no problem. Turns out they had hired several new grads. I also had no healthcare experience. 2) I agree with the previous poster that the stress levels tend to go up and down frequently. Only rarely do I have shifts where I am under a lot of stress the whole time and those usually only happen when I am charging and they are exhausting. Other times you just be sitting around twiddling your thumbs and then you get a call a ruptured AAA is on a helicopter and will be coming straight to the OR in 20 minutes. Or you will be in an "easy" case that all of the sudden goes bad or the patient crashes. You just never know. 3) Very little of what I learned in nursing school is relevant to my job and very little of what I have learned in the OR is relevant to floor nursing. 4) This is really hard to answer. Theoretically OR nursing is more formulaic but in reality it is full of surprises. I have mostly worked evening/night shifts so my days are less predictable than those that work the day shifts. Also the more trauma/emergency surgeries that your facility does the less predictable thing are going to be. When I worked at a small, lower trauma level facility we rarely saw anything that crazy or unusual compared to the things I see now. Also you have to remember that things are only predictable within a single procedure for a single surgeon under ideal circumstances. 5) From what I have seen those with Masters degrees are usually directors or educators, but at other places those individuals only have BSN degrees so I think that depends. 6) See previous poster. 7) This is also really variable and depends on if the facility is staffed 24/7 or not. I have seen 8, 10, 12 and 16 hour shifts for nurses. Seems like OR shifts are less predicable than the usual 7-7. Call also varies widely but there is always call. 8) I haven't traveled but my current facility uses travel nurses in the OR. I think it would be really difficult. Someone once told me there are two kinds of traveling OR nurses: those that travel because that are SO good they can be effective anywhere and those that can't hold down a real job because they are so ineffective/difficult to work with. This seems to hold true. Hope that helps!

I was hired as a new grad (hadn't even taken the NCLEX yet) and both hospitals I have worked at have routinely hired new grads. I don't really see how critical care experience would really be relevant unless you were recovering patients.

3$/hr for being on call and time and a half when you are called in BUT we have scheduled "late days" where you are on call for a few hours past your 8hr shift and if you have to stay you only get paid time and half for that if it puts you over 40hrs/week. If you go home and get called back in for those shifts it's time and a half. Its confusing and weird. Where I worked last it was 2$/hr and time a half regardless if you worked your 40 hours and automatic 2 hours of pay if you clocked in.

That, for the most part, I get to hang out with intelligent, funny and interesting people all day. With the exception of a few individuals most everyone I work with is awesome (including a few of the MDs). I am one of those people that loves making and checking off lists and so the one separate case after another nature of the job suits my personality. You never know what you are going to see. Seriously. Patients after versed > patients before versed. I don't have to do my hair or worry about what I am going to wear! I tend to be a little bossy and controlling by nature and that works to my benefit in the OR. It is an adventure! (I am pretty new, so this one might wear off)

It is totally going to depend of the facility and the shift you will be hired onto. At both facilities I have been there were always opportunities to trade call with your co-workers. I could pretty easily get rid of pretty much all of my call if I wanted to. But to answer your question, on average (non heart people) we take about 4-5 days/month.

We use water for lumpectomies and other small cancer surgeries although there usually isn't a whole lot of irrigating actually going on.

You can request an internship at a facility outside of Tallahassee (in Florida) but they have a list of facilities so if you had one in mind you could ask someone at the CON about it. Your internship is the last six weeks of the program (our class is now doing it) and does not overlap with any course work. You do have some online NCLEX preparation requirements to complete during internship but they can be done from anywhere. All other classes are in person only. They are small classes because they are ABSN student only. Besides that you are also always doing either lab work (can't be online) or are in clinicals (also can't be done online) at the same time. You have to be in Tally for everything but the internship but many people came just for the year and then went home (Jacksonville, Pensacola etc) for the internship and beyond. They are pretty good at getting ABSN people the internships they want. Hope that helps.

Hi CNA Sam! Well I finished my first two days! Got to see four surgeries and helped out as much as I could (which isn't that much!). My preceptor is pretty awesome and the rest of the staff has been welcoming. The hardest part is standing ALL day! That is going to take some time to get use to for sure. I really like the atmosphere and the camaraderie between the team members. Hope your preceptorship is going well!

Nizzle, For clarification my quoted 50+ hrs was a total of class time and studying time for me. The time spent out of classroom really depends on your style. If you read every assigned reading and go all out studying then it could take up an almost endless amount of time. (honestly, from what I have seen I doubt there is a relationship between frantic obsessive studying/stressing and success in nursing school) You have to find what works best for you and what is sustainable for a year. I found reading to be helpful in the beginning because the test were knowledge/recognition based but as the courses progressed and the questions became more "NCLEX" like or prioritization/situation based I found reading to be much less helpful, so I stopped doing it. Also it depends on how you study. For the six week courses you really only have a couple days to study because the exams are every other week. So the answer is...I don't know but you really don't need to be spending 85 hrs/wk, that is just inefficient! Will you maybe get A's? Possibly. Will you be so burnt out and miserable that you get sick a lot, hate your life and gain 20 pounds? Absolutely. Now that I haven't answered that question at all.....breaks. Yes, you do get a breaks between semesters. We got one and a half weeks between spring/summer and three between summer/fall.

Thanks for the tips! I am glad everyone is saying that asking questions in generally well received because I LOVE to ask questions. I will of course check with my preceptor and surgeon first. I bought the pocket guide to the OR and hopefully I will have access to other resources at the hospital so I can get an idea for the cases ahead of me. I start bright at early (6:30!) tomorrow morning! So excited! Thanks everyone for the kind and encouraging words! Not all nurses eat their young

H, Thank you for the words of encouragement! Unfortunately in the short term I really only have this one facility. I am relocating to a small rural midwestern town with limited options. I guess one year in med/surg won't kill me, right? Right? It will probably be good experience and will make me more well rounded. Trying to look on the bright side here. I am a little less patient since I am a bit older than most new grads and I am ready to start the career I really want!

I am so bummed out right now! I just spoke with an HR rep at the hospital I am applying to for after graduation and she said they don't hire new grads in surgery!! They mostly just hire them to med/surg floors. BLARGH. Now I am worried I will be extra behind since my internship isn't on a normal floor. I am awesome, they should hire me anyways. I might surgery at the top of my "which positions you are applying for" list anyways! I am getting a BSN in accelerated program and I have a BS in biology, I am a member of sigma theta tau, I will have graduated both programs with honors (cum laude and magna cum laude). I will have a six week stint in the OR. Come on! Not cool. Sorry for the rant.

It depends on the semester and how much time you spend studying. You can expect to be lecture or lab atleast 4-5 hrs a day and then when you start clinicals (summer) that is two eight hour days with lecture the rest of the week. It is full time between being on campus and time spent reading or studying. And you are constantly studying for something when you have four credit classes that only last six weeks! It really depends on the person how much time they spend outside of class but I am probably a low to medium studier and I easily spent 50+ hours a week doing school stuff.

My first day is next Wednesday (10/26) and the internship is 216 hours over 6 weeks but we can stay an extra week if we want and our preceptor is OK with it. Finally a clinical experience without care maps!!

Hexen, Thanks for all your wonderful advice. For my first week objectives I put to become familiar with the physical environment of the OR (since I've never been in one), sterility and patient safety. I sometimes have a problem with filtering what I think before it goes flying out of my mouth, especially if I am happy or feel comfortable so I will try to remind myself to listen and get a feel for everyone first! The teamwork is one of the things that draws me to the OR so communication and not taking things personally need to be goals for me. I am really excited, I hope I don't freeze to death in there! PS- How did meals/breaks go for everyone? I was planning on just bringing a bunch of snacky foods that I can inhale in a few minutes if needed.

Talked to my preceptor and she seems nice but pretty old-school. She said she likes students to have goals they want to meet during their internship. I honestly know so little about the OR that I am not even sure where to start with goals. I have a week and a half to think about it. Any ideas fellow nurses??

dhelin: That's awesome. The hospital I am going to is kind of small but does routinely have students since there are about four nursing schools and one medical school in town. Are you just observing so far or what? Do you get to do any pre-op stuff like start IVs or put in foleys or anything? I think I might order that book since I'm sure it wouldn't be a bad reference to have on hand.

You have to maintain a 75% average on the tests in the courses to pass, not everyone managed that. I also heard the first ABSN class lost a couple people during the summer as well. Time management and the ability to differentiate between what is important and what is not helps a lot. Anyone who gets in is smart enough to get through, it's just a matter of focus and determination. It's not like college the first time, you can't screw around and party and be fine.

The summer was crazy (two full days at the hospital and 5 hrs of lecture the other days) and we lost a couple students to test grades but after that it's all down hill. We have one more day of class and start internship in a week. The end is in sight! If anyone has any questions about the program, I can try and answer them.

I am in my final semester of nursing school (accelerated BSN) and managed to get placement in the main OR at a local hospital for my internship. The internship is full time, 216 hrs, and starts in a couple weeks. I haven't been able to talk with my preceptor yet but was hoping to pick everyone heres brains a little. We didn't have an opportunity to rotate through the OR but have been drawn to OR nursing since deciding to go to nursing school. I am the only student in our class to get a spot in the OR. So...wise OR people, what can I do to make the most of my experience and make a good impression. Are there textbooks I should order, mistakes I can learn from? Anything really. I am so excited a little terrified :)

Current 2011 ABSNer here. Last year we were able to call the CON and they would tell us if we got in before we got our letters. Wish you all the best of luck!

To anyone who has registered, what is the deal with the group A and B business? Can you tell which you are registering for or are they just going to randomly split us up? ****** said to me "don't worry about regeristing right away, all the classes are at the same time, you might just be split up into two groups" BUT looking at the schedule that doesn't seem true at all, group A and B are at totally different times and days! Confusing.

They sent out several emails last night with tons of info about registration, clinicals and so on. Unfortunately I am unable to register despite having no stops on my account. Great. Looks like I will have to spend some time on the phone today!

I'm in!! Congrats 2011BSN!

Supposely the applicants have been ranked and they are waiting for word from the Dean on how many they can accept but if you call tomorrow afternoon they should be able to tell you if you got accepted! Hopefully they really mean it this time!