ArtieRN

@roxiroxmysox last I heard the hiring freeze on ADNs is system-wide, so all departments and all five hospitals. This may have changed recently but as Fairfax is up for renewing magnet status and they want that for the other hospitals, I doubt that's the case. I'm a diploma RN who was hired right before, and at the time our former CNO(?) was very outspoken about her prejudice against 2-year degree nurses. We did have to sign agreements that we'd get our BSN within 3 years of hire, I think it was, and they recently started a tuition grant for anyone starting an RN-to-BSN program after this past July. But again, this is more for the benefit of current employees and I don't think they're hiring anymore ADNs for a while. Sorry for rambling.

I'd love answers to these questions too! Also if any ADN/diploma nurses (whether you are already working on your BSN) we're accepted.

Where I work, the RN fellowship covers a little of scrubbing and a few nurses will get to scrub a little until they are part of full-time staff. The tech-to-nurse ratio, though, makes it so that it's really hard for nurses to scrub unless they have a lot of experience in certain specialties and they need the staffing, e.g. ortho, big joint cases, etc. This is apparently a pretty new thing that developed only a few years ago here when it was almost all nurses. There's also a relatively new policy where ADN/diploma RNs aren't allowed to circulate and are only hired as scrub nurses. I'm one of those, so all I do is scrub. half our staff are two-year degree nurses, but they were grandfathered in because they'd been circulating all this time. It's frustrating not being allowed to practice as a full nurse in the OR, grouped in with the techs (who are awesome, but that's not what I went to school for and took boards for), and being paid less than the BSN nurses that were in my same fellowship cohort, but there are also a lot of nurses here who are jealous of my getting to scrub all the time. From what I hear from travelers who come through here, though, this is an extremely rare and strange circumstance.

I considered it and even registered there, but I've found a few other options that are almost a third of the cost of NOVA's out of state tuition. It's a real bummer.

Inova has a systemwide freeze on ADN/diploma nurses recently. They're trying to renew their magnet status, and management generally looks down on ADN nurses. Blech.

There is a lot of great advice in these message boards. I'm pretty sure it helped me land my OR fellowship, too! Patient advocacy is a key phrase and also being able to handle all kinds of less... savory personality. A little sense of humor and a touch of OCD doesn't hurt either.

Congrats! It's going to be overwhelming at first. And for a couple months after, but enjoy the process and don't be afraid to dive in! Ask lots of questions. The OR is no place for shrinking violets!

I'm new to the OR and came in with six other people in our fellowship. Most of us were new nurses, one was in her 40s and had been in NICU for 12 years. She'd been feeling stagnant and wanted to learn a new specialty. She does really well and is super particular, though sometimes she keeps asking more more more questions. It's not a terrible thing to want to gain more knowledge! Another was a new graduate nurse in her 50s, and I don't think she's going to make it. I think personalitywise, she doesn't get on with most of the staff, and she's decent when she gets to do more repetition in a certain service rather than bouncing around. Other times, she can get really flustered if she makes one mistake or if someone cops attitude with her, nurse or surgeon. I think she'd be a better floor nurse with more patient interaction. (Me, I think I fall somewhere in between the two You have to enjoy the process, listen, pay attention, not be afraid to make mistakes, know how to work as a team as that's most of what you're doing, and learn how to go with the flow. A little OCD and being able to stand up and speak out on behalf of yourself and your patient is really important.

It took about three to four weeks for me, but that's because 1) I applied just before winter break and 2) I never actually checked my mav mail where all my nursing school stuff went.

Have you checked your UTA email? I kept waiting to hear from them through my regular email, but all my nursing info came through my mav email, including my transcript eval. I never checked it after a few failed logins early on and ended up missing the deadline for the classes I wanted to start.

I'm sure this comment is a bit late, but I wanted to throw in my two cents should it help someone. I have a BA in English and with lots of science classes (I kept dabbling with the idea of applying to med school), finished my prereqs at a community college, and then I got my diploma at the local hospital. The only gen classes I needed as A&PII (my nursing school only required A&PI if you took it at the local CC) and Texas Gov't. I was amazed I didn't have to take Statistics, but I did have a college-level math already (Calculus for Life Sciences—no, I don't know either). I don't know what they took for one of my nursing electives, though, as I don't have any certifications. Maybe my med term or sciences. That takes me up to 10 classes, and with the benefits I get from work and the scholarship I'm applying to? I should be able to cover all my costs. Whew!

Like the header says, I'm looking for an Anatomy & Physiology II class that's purely online. I've tried searching through other posts here but haven't been able to find the info I'm looking for. I'm sure others would appreciate a comprehensive list, too. The diploma program I went through had an agreement with the local community college so I only needed their A&PI to fulfill the pre-reqs at the time. Now I'm working on my BSN and need that second class! I'd really prefer something with online lab, too. (Yes, they do exist.) I've taken tons of bio classes with labs my first go-around in college; I don't think I'd gain much from a hands-on one, plus my housemates would kill me if I stunk up the place with formaldehyde. If you can tell me the school, the length of term, the structure of the class (tests, quizzes, essays, etc), out-of-state cost (NOVA, my local CC still considers me out of state!), how hard/manageable/demanding it was for you, and anything else you'd think is helpful, it'd be so great and appreciated.

I've seen people become sales reps and met one nurse who did pre-op interviews over the phone after her knees became too painful to stay in the OR.

Congrats! I know some people who just stick around with friends who are closer to the hospital or, if it's an unusual circumstance that you might not make it right on time, just call the front desk. If nothing else, at least they'll know you'll be a bit late. The people in charge of call said that they'd rather that than just wait for you to waltz in 15 minutes after the fact, looking frazzled. Things happen.

For the OR? Very comfortable shoes, above all things. Something to take notes on (other than your scrubs), and a willingness to learn. A lab coat isn't required but it definitely helps in those cold cold rooms. I've never seen an OR nurse need a stethoscope, cuff or pen light. Most of that is covered by pre-op or anesthesia. A protein bar wouldn't hurt either.

Just keep trying and learning. Do everything they'll let you do, don't be afraid to make mistakes because even the very experienced RNs will contaminate or drop things, and don't ever let a doctor's ego get to you because they can just be children sometimes. If there is something you feel you need more experience or practice in, speak up. Whether you're scrubbing or circulating, it's better to learn the ins and outs of the actual procedure; it helps bring all the pieces together. Spending a little time in SPD helped with instrumentation and sets, too. I'm in my sixth month as a new OR nurse and am going into regular staffing soon. I've come so far from when I first started, and I'm so aware of how much further I still have to go. It's not a quick process learning, and people tend to be more understanding when they know you're new but eager and capable of learning. As for the latex allergy, it really is no problem, no matter what kind of reaction you have. Some people have reactions to the types of soaps we use. One doctor uses latex gloves but has a reaction to the cuffs on the gowns and has figured out how to get around that. They have to have non-latex allergies, not just for you but also for any patient with allergies, too. Seriously, it's no big deal at all.

I think your pre- and post-op experience will definitely help. Any connections you might develop will, too. I'm (sort of) a new grad who got into the OR fellowship at my hospital with no experience and no BSN (just barely squeezed in there before the system-wide hiring freeze on non-BSN nurses, eep!). From what I could tell in the interview and what I could pick up from other people is that the most important thing is to demonstrate that you are a firm believer in your role as the patient advocate and have the critical thinking skills for the OR. Hopefully once you get that BSN, a few more doors will be opened to you, too. Good luck!

It's funny. We have more techs than nurses right now in our main OR (techs were hired to save money rather than hire more nurses), so whoever can circulate does, but we have a new policy that new RNs who don't have a BSN can only scrub. Interesting, considering we frequently have to rely on travelers.... our cardiothoracic OR and women's surgery, which are in different buildings to the main and ASC ORs, often have RNs scrubbing in. It's a shame, too, since I've heard from many an RN who wished they could scrub more so they could learn the cases better.

I had some trepidation when I took on an OR fellowship. I was also offered a position at a different hospital on a neurosurgery floor. It's a pretty different beast than working on the floor, and in nursing school, they discouraged too much interest in the OR, at least at first. The truth is, you just won't know until you're there whether you personally will enjoy it. I myself have fun with the procedures and have found myself learning a lot. At the same time, I know I'm getting rusty in the other skills and find myself completely drained some days, and dreading call. There's a nurse in my fellowship group who was in NICU for 12 years before starting to feel too static and felt the need to expand and grow. If you want the challenge to learn something completely new? Go for it. If you're not sure? Go for it anyway. The worst that can happen is that you learn that it's not for you, and if you're a nurse with a few years experience, you should be able to find a floor job to go back to after.

I'm just not a person who likes to eat breakfast, but I always force myself before work because I only scrub. THat's helped out immensely. A few other techs I've talked to say the same thing. Especially with protein. An egg or two or a protein shake or bar before I go in, and I haven't had much of a problem since.

For my fellowship, we had to go to SPD for two afternoons, one day working in decontam and the other putting sets together to be sterilized. It was only a few hours, but going through the count sheets and putting sets together really helped as I got the chance to play around with a set. Our educator told us that if we ever wanted to spend a little more time there to futz around, just let her know.

Our main OR where I work has a hard time keeping it under 40-45 minutes, but our ASC is usually pretty good at keeping it at 20 or so. I'm still amazed when management and doctors still complain that that's not fast enough! Obviously, the ones doing the griping are the ones who don't have to do the cleaning and setting up or dealing with brand-new set up/anesthesia techs fresh out of college with liberal arts degrees and minimal training from the company we contract!

I just started my RN-BSN program online, and for one of my classes, we'll need to develop a research question or problem in our specialties that we've witnessed. I work in the OR as a scrub nurse and have been trying to brainstorm a few ideas to choose from. Since I'm new, there's the idea of educating new nurses on the ways of the OR, or perhaps something related to minimizing the risk of surgical-site infections, or something to do with physician pick lists (ours tend to be terrible, and of course, doctors who don't communicate well assume we can read their minds), or something to do with counting at the end of a case? I was hoping some of you might have other ideas to add or how to isolate a topic from these ideas. Anyone? Bueller?

I was in the same position as a new grad just a few months ago. I was lucky to choice between a neurosurg floor position or an OR fellowship. There are times I still wonder if I made the right choice to not take the opportunity to develop my basic skills as a nurse (in fact, I could probably do quite well in any unit with a few years in that job), and if my experience really were just what ratona described, I'd be regretting it like crazy! I'm still learning and have had a lot of hiccups, but it's been an enjoyable experience so far. Some benefits to the OR are the instant gratification of fixing a patient's problem within a day, getting to work as a team on one patient instead of the lonely autonomy of 6 med-surg patients and endless documentation, and sedated patients while putting in foleys. I've also really come to appreciate just how much knowledge and problem solving skills are required as circulator or scrub. It's not floor nursing, no, but it's just as challenging mentally and, yes, physically. There are times where it seems thankless and mindless, and there are some people who are definitely not meant for the OR, but trust me. It's totally possible to have a bad periop nurse. Even in my inexperience, I can see them. The other nurses see them and expect the best. Just like in any other specialty in nursing, you are a patient advocate. Your job is to protect your patient who is in their most vulnerable state while under your care. You're the last face they'll remember seeing before being wheeled into the surgical suite. You're the one who makes sure everything runs as best as they can. Sometimes it's someone wanting their boobs done, and sometimes it's a 9 year old bleeding out of every orifice, and you're the one who convinces a doctor that his life can be saved. I've seen it, and it's beautiful. As for traditional nursing, I'm hoping after getting my BSN and CNOR-certified in a few years, I can also start doing pre-op or PACU. Then who knows?

FYI, the rumors are true. There's a hiring freeze to external applicants at Fairfax (as well as the other Inova hospitals, e.g. Mt Vernon, Alex, Fair Oaks and Loudoun).