kinbari08

The majority of OR jobs are day shift bc that's when elective surgeries happen. Level 1 trauma centers are required to staff their ORs 24/7 but usually only have one team in house overnight and then there are those on call. My hospital I work at is level 1. We have a charge nurse, a RN to circulate, and a scrub tech. That's the entire OR staff for night shift. If they have to open a 2nd room overnight the call team is coming in. I work day shift but I take overnight call from 11p-7a, usually one night every 2-3 weeks. I do not get called in often but when I do it's for a trauma/very urgent case. Hospitals that aren't level 1 might not even staff their OR at night. Night positions usually go to nurses with several years experience since there is such limited staff at night and a lot of times you are the only nurse there. Cases at night are emergencies and trauma and you need to have a good foundation and know what you are doing with limited resources. There is very little chance that they would hire a new grad for nights bc you would have to go through orientation during the day to actually learn how to do cases and then after orientation you need to gain experience doing the cases solo with resources that can help you during the day.

This thread is 2 weeks old but I figured I would comment. I agree with others, I would take the OR job. You will always be with a preceptor for 6-8 months and by the end of orientation you should feel comfortable or at least know who your resources are to contact when you have questions. Guaranteed breaks for lunch and you usually get to leave on time. You don't have to spend a half hour after your shift finishing up charting and giving detailed report to the person taking over all your patients. No holidays or weekends for you is a bonus. And you're 9 minutes away when on call. Plus since it's a small community hospital, you will probably do a lot of basic elective cases. Nothing too crazy! And horror stories about surgeons are just stories. The majority of surgeons I've encountered are all very nice. And usually if they are angry or frustrated it's not at you but the situation at hand. I work in a level 1 peds OR and have 9 years of experience. I could not imagine myself working on the floor. Orientation may be long for the OR but they want to make sure you are competent to be on your own. There are good days and bad but in the end it has been super rewarding working in the OR.

I also am far from being an extrovert. It takes me awhile to open up to people, but once I am comfortable with someone all is good. I've been an OR nurse for 6.5 years. Every OR has their fair share of strong personalities. There will be coworkers and surgeons you will not care to work with. But the majority of coworkers and doctors I work with and have met are all extremely nice. And when you are assigned to a room with some of your favorite people, it just makes the day so much better. I have never really encountered yelling in the OR. Usually if a surgeon raises their voice, they are frustrated at the situation and not directly at you. And yes, it does take a certain crazy person to work in the OR but I love it. I went straight to it out of school and couldn't imagine myself working on the floor. You will learn a lot, there will be good and bad days but in the end it is very rewarding!

Hi! I just took the CPN this past Saturday and passed. I used NurseBuilders. They offered a class through my hospital which I took but the exam study guides are available to purchase on their website. I basically studied the exam content outline book and did all the practice questions. The exam was hard but it is totally doable. Good luck!

I work at a peds hospital where we do lots of ENT elective cases. We usually don't do an IV on ear tubes unless the kid has some reason we should do one. But I've placed an emergent IV in many ear tube cases because the kid laryngospasms and cannot maintain their airway so anesthesia has to give succinylcholine. ENT to me is pretty chill though. Our attendings are all very nice and it's mostly residents and fellows doing the cases. I can't comment on L&D since I've never worked it.

I know this thread's a few months old but figured I'd comment. I started off in an adult OR that did some minor peds cases (ear tubes, circumcisions, etc.) and then transitioned to a level 1 pediatric OR. Lots of things are similar but case wise, you do things in the peds world that you never do in the adult world. Our rooms aren't kept hot unless it's a NICU baby or the case is classified as one where we follow our "surgical site infection" protocol. We have induction rooms where the parents can come in with their child as they go to sleep. A lot of the younger kids will cry and scream as they go to sleep and you may need several people to hold them down as the anesthesia person is holding a mask to their face. We do have flavors that we can spray in the mask so they can smell flavored air as they are going to sleep. The OR RN's do the majority of the IVs at my facility and they are placed after mask induction but before intubation. If the patient is a young adult or a teen they usually get their IV in pre-op but the pre-op nurses at my hospital aren't the greatest at doing them so sometimes you get a 17 year old getting their IV in the OR. They usually do an IV induction instead of mask for the teens and adults though, just like at an adult facility. We also do IV inductions for all inpatients who already have an IV, PICC, or central line. My hospital's busiest service is ENT but we do all services almost everyday. I sometimes miss the adult world but for now, I'm enjoying my job with the little ones!

Those units always seemed to be hiring actually! And the hospital doesn't just serve the city of Bismarck. People come from all over the Western and Central part of the state, and also Montana and South Dakota to seek care.

Good luck to you! St A's was a great place to work for my first job. If it wasn't so far away from home I would probably still be there. I still miss some aspects of Bismarck. All the stores I needed were less than a 15 minute drive away, the commute to work was short, and traffic was nonexistent. And yeah, your best bet would be to have it shipped. I drove my car there and back though and I live 1200 miles away. Once it's there you won't put many miles on the car driving it around town unless you plan to do lots of traveling with it.

I'm no longer in Bismarck. I found a job back home in my home state. I was at St. A's for a year and a half. I would not recommend living in Bismarck without a car. There is a bus system but I hardly saw the bus around in town. You can walk places I guess but it'll be a quite the walk, walking to the grocery store . Hope this helps!

I agree with the those saying the coblator. The settings are always in the single digits. One of our surgeon's uses the bovie for his T&A's. The bipolar is set at 12 and the coag at 36. Once he starts the adenoids he asks us to turn the coag down to 15.

I too was taught that a messy prep is a good prep. And I too tend to get betadine everywhere, but I've gotten better at it. I'm very meticulous about getting all of the surgical site covered with prep and I think that is much more important then keeping the other areas clean. You can always put a chucks or a towel down before you prep if you are afraid you will make a mess. I do that for cystos.

moongirl250, just thought I'd let you know, I know you said you planned on applying later this year. St. A's is a great place for a new grad to start. I started as one and really enjoy my job. However I was told by my department head that because of the implementation of EPIC this fall, St. A's human resources is planning to undergo a hiring freeze from September to November. They will be bringing in a bunch of travelers that already know EPIC to help facilitate the change. I would still apply anyway because they will probably hold onto your application but thought you might like this info.

You can only take Peri-op 101 if you are a) affiliated with a school that will offer the course or b) you are a new OR nurse and your hospital uses it as part of your orientation. I took it as part of my orientation. It's all online and you complete several modules. I'm not sure how much it costs since the hospital paid for it but I heard its pretty expensive....close to $1000 for the class. Most hospitals that use it have their nurses take it as part of their training so I don't think it will help you get into the OR if you were able to take it elsewhere. I recommend looking for New to the OR residencies/internships at hospitals you would want to work at. Some hospitals are willing to take new grads...others want nurses that have floor experience. Good luck!

Yes, I think it was 114 questions.

I took it this past September and my test and fellow classmates' tests were all multiple choice. Definetely go over the modules that you are not as familiar with and read the summaries at the end of each module. I missed passing by 1 question the first time I took it (got a 78) but the second time I took it I got a 96. It's really not that bad. Just read through each question and think about them. You can skip questions and go back to them and you can also change your answers.