ORTRAV

You do still have sooo much to learn. On average I have found that it takes about 5 years in the OR before you are truly comfortable. It has a lot to do with the size of your OR and the acuity of cases. If you are in a large institution with teams you may feel comfortable performing your one service but will be totally overwhelmed in another. If you are in a smaller place you will see something you have never seen before. I think thats what keeps us hooked. A constantly changing environment and the looming trauma.

You will not learn anything about the OR in nursing school. You will be lucky if your school alows you to spend 1 week in the OR. After school you may be able to intern in an OR. Some hospitals now offer a Periop 101 class for new to the OR personell. It is an ok class to teach you the basics of how to function in an OR. There is nothing specific for Ortho. You will just have to find a job in an OR and hope the Ortho team has an opening.

I was a surgical technologist for 15 years before crrossing over to the dark side.

I have seen this happen a few times. Once a methylmethracrolate flap was fashioned. The other times we just soaked the flap in betadine prior to putting it back on.