MinneNurse

Hi! I realize I am responding several months later but I hope this information still helps. Twin Cities native here and OR Circulator. We have plenty of the hospitals in the area. Some are union, others are not. We also have plenty of Ortho ASCs with TCO, Tria, and Summit. All of the hospitals in the area do orthopedic surgery and Abbott has their own ortho team in the OR. Right now we are in the middle of union negotiations and most of our hospitals are facing a major staffing crisis. If you are in a position to be a traveler, rates in this area are very high. Hope this helps, feel free to reach out if you have further questions and best of luck!

Minneapolis, Minnesota - $10.00ish and some change an hour, guaranteed 4 hours of pay if called in

Hi there, I am a former bedside nurse turned OR Circulator! Hopefully I can answer some of your questions. My first suggestion would be asking for a shadow day with a nurse in the OR so you can actually get a feel for what OR nurses do at your facility. You said you shine in "customer service, and the general areas of my specialty. I pride myself on doing a good job navigating my patients though their admission, especially upon discharge." and that you don't think OR nurses use your current strengths. I don't know what your speciality area is so I can't speak to that but I think all forms of nursing require customer service skills. In the OR we have to build a rapport with patients just as bedside nurses do but we have a much shorter time-frame to do that in. Patient education is no different. I meet my patient's for the first time during my pre-op interview and it is there that I have to build a relationship with them and provide education on the procedure and what they can expect going into the OR. OR nursing is very different from floor nursing and my patient interaction is more limited. Some of my responsibilities as a circulating nurse include assisting with picking our case carts, setting up the OR, getting the required equipment and positioning devices, opening supplies and instruments to my scrub tech, gathering the ordered medications and handing them off to the sterile field, counting with my tech, and turning over the OR when the case is finished. In addition to what I mentioned earlier in terms of direct patient care I position the patient, place a foley catheter if ordered, assist anesthesia during intubation, and prep the patient's skin. I do all of the charting during the case while still watching and assessing the sterile field and I update the family during the procedure. There are many other things I do as well but this is a basic summary of what circulators do. I always knew I wanted to be an OR nurse. I went to the floor to gain experience because the Peri-Op 101 program I wanted to get into required a year of acute care experience. I didn't mind floor nursing and I was good at what I did including the things you mentioned were your strengths. I had many co-workers tell me not to go to the OR, but my heart wasn't in floor nursing. I have never regretted leaving the floor, I only regret not going to the OR sooner. I absolutely love what I do. love being in surgery, I love learning something new everyday, seeing new cases everyday, I love making a difference in patient's lives that I can see first-hand, I love the fast pace, I love the variety, and I love working with my team. The Peri-Op 101 program is a bit like going back to school because the OR is so different from the floor. When I first started I thought 6 months was so long, but you really need that time. It isn't an entire 6 months of class though, more of your time is spent in the OR with a preceptor learning. You sound happy in your current position and as you stated you aren't interested in starting over, so why are you looking into OR Nursing?

In my OR there is no "chain of command" where the circulator "runs the room." We work as a team and we all have individual duties to meet the common goal. But no matter what your OR's culture is, when it comes to sterility any concerns made by anyone should always be addressed appropriately. Nobody should be able to disregard such incidents no matter who brings it up. I'm not sure of your facilities policies but I would reference AORN Guidelines if you are looking for some backup.

I don't think it's just you, a lot of what you described can be pretty typical for the OR. In general the OR is filled with strong personalities which can be difficult at times. I think you should give yourself more time, I know 6 months seems like a while but you still have 2 and half years left, at least get a year in and see how you feel. The OR is so different than any other nursing environment and it truly just takes time for you to learn and become comfortable, and for most people that can take 1-2 years, sometimes even longer. I'm newer to the OR so I know how frustrating it is when you are trying to learn and people are inpatient with you and get upset, but eventually you will become more knowledgable and through time "earn" a spot in their mind and they won't treat you that way anymore. Don't take it personal though, some people just are that way. I have seen staff get upset and yell at some of our most senior RNs because they didn't grab the right instrument or whatever. My best advice would be to stay out of the gossip and pettiness and kill them with kindness. If you're in the break room and you wanna socialize just change the subject or say something positive. Ask people how their weekend was, how their kids are doing, etc. People like talking about themselves more than they like gossiping See if there is anyone who likes taking call if you are allowed to give your call up. I give away most of my call because I don't like being on call and I live far away. As for low needing I don't have a lot of insight on that as I am union but my suggestion would be to try and stay as busy as possible and hopefully your manager sees your productive and doesn't send you home. I don't know what your call pay is but ours isn't much either.

I would agree with the suggestions that you should shadow first if you can. You have to really have a passion for the OR to be able to work in it. You either love it or you hate it, but even if you love it, as @Kali.RN said, it is a harsh environment. I love being an OR Nurse but some days it is so tough. The OR is filled with such strong personalities and such knowledgable people but unfortunately all that personality and knowledge clash sometimes. Surgeons can be very mean and difficult to work with and I've seen some of our best techs brought to tears. I don't know where you live but in my area techs are in very high demand and many places are offering sign on bonuses/retention bonuses etc. but it can definitely be a lot of work. There are many great things about working in the OR though, more often than not I work with wonderful people who make coming to work fun and I genuinely enjoy being able to do my job along side them. Best of luck to you in whatever you decide!

Driving to work without traffic in the morning, roughly 25 minutes from my garage to the parking ramp. Going home with traffic in the afternoon/evening, 45 minutes to an 1 hour 15 minutes.

I read your previous post when you initially posted it about being fired after charting early that you gave the med before you actually gave it and went back today after reading this post and read all your other ones. I can't say if nursing all-together isn't for you but I don't think the previous nursing positions you were in were the best fit for you. Passing medications in LTC and assisted living is a tedious job that many would find difficult. Obviously you had a pattern down, which was signing after you opened the med but before administering it to the resident, and unfortunately that method was problematic. I think your intentions of having a method you followed was good, unfortunately the method itself was problematic. It seems like your first job caused you self-doubt and drained your self confidence. When you went to your second job at the OBGYN clinic you didn't have enough confidence in yourself and that paired with the unfamiliar OBGYN environment (much different from geriatrics) you felt overwhelmed and scared so you left and returned to the more familiar, yet demanding environment of assist-living. I think you haven't found your niche in nursing, and that doesn't mean you aren't cut out for being a nurse. If you like geriatrics, try looking into other positions that allow you to work with that population in a less demanding and overwhelming environment. I have great respect for nurses who work LTC/assisted living but admit that I don't think I could work in that area. Far too many residents, too many medications, and for me I think too much room for error. I do agree with others that before you jump back into nursing, you need to focus on yourself. As nurses, we often put our own feelings, mental health, and well-being aside and that isn't fair or healthy. We've all done it. Take some time to get yourself feeling better, and then start looking for a new nursing position. Wishing you the very best!

I can't speak for parish nursing or "sleep techs" but I would consider the availability of these positions. You mentioned you looked into the polysomnography program and said "there supposedly are jobs in this field in my city." My thought would be, how many jobs, how often are they hiring, how many individuals are in the market looking for these positions? While I was nursing school, some of my classmates had gone to school before to come dental hygienists or ultrasound techs. Unfortunately where I live the market was saturated with individuals with this degree and not enough jobs to support them. Not saying that is the case for you, just something to look into. If you are still considering become a LVN/LPN I would also look into what types of facilities are hiring. After reading several posts on this site over the years, it seems in some states LPN/LVNs have a harder time finding positions in a variety of settings. Sorry I can't provide anymore insight, best of luck to you!

The trend is definitely shifting towards hospitals "preferring" new grads have their BSN, but I think it just depends where you live. If you know where you plan on working, check available job postings at local facilities and see the requirements they list. Call the HR department and ask if they hire ADN new grads, if there are any units/areas they won't hire them into, and what (if any) requirements they have for ADN RNs (1 year experience, etc). In my state most acute care facilities require new hire ADNs to obtain their BSN within 3-6 years. Some will only hire new grad ADNs if they are already enrolled into a BSN program. At the facility I work at, they will hire ADN new grads into med/surg units but new grads wanting to work in critical care areas or the ED typically must have a BSN. They have hired new grad ADNs into those areas who worked on that unit as a LPN or PCA however. I know other facilities in my area that don't hire new grad ADNs into acute care/hospital positions unless they already work at that hospital, so maybe consider finding a part-time position where you want to work? If you want to work near your current school, ask the nursing department for stats on how many of their new grads find jobs after graduation and where they are working. Best of luck to you!

I am frequently pulled from my lunch break or don't get to take a full 30, so at the end of my shift I punch out no break (we don't punch in & out for our breaks). You are short staffed AND OT is not approved? Sounds like your facility is trying to be cheap and skimp out on staffing and you and the residents will pay the cost for that. Get out of there! Best of luck to you!

It really depends on what you are interested in. I hated my mother/baby rotation in nursing school and have never had any interest being in this area of nursing so I would have definitely went with the OR. Like others have said both are really specific and where I am from, both are specialty areas that new grads typically can only get into with previous experience from an internship or their capstone.

Wow, those ratios are high, and without an aide?? And your charge is also working as charge for the ICU AND working as a monitor tech? What the heck? Can someone tell me if this is normal for Florida? I'm in Minnesota on a tele unit and my ratio is 1:4 and my charge is only responsible for our unit. We don't have a monitor tech but with 4 patients its generally manageable. We are union but a previous facility I was at was not and the ratio was the same and they had tele monitor techs. I don't think you are being too sensitive, seems unsafe to me and not a good situation for you or your patients. My suggestion is to come to Minnesota once your assignment there is up, its not bad in the summer, the weather is beautiful and there are plenty of lakes to cool off in !

I sometimes wonder if the comments about appearance come from a place of insecurity? I wear my hair down a lot at work because I have dermatitis and sometimes wearing ponytails or buns all day starts to really hurt my scalp. I have had a few co-workers make comments in the past about nurses wearing their hair down and how they do not approve, but I was never singled out. I deal with less bodily fluids on my unit and most of my patients are independent and ambulatory and don't need assistance with personal cares so it has never been an issue wearing my hair down. I've also noticed some nurses who don't wear makeup make comments about nurses who do in a negative manner, which I think really isn't their place. I wear makeup for several reasons, one being I have a very uneven complexion with a lot of acne scars. Whatever the reasons though, it is everyones personal choice to wear or not wear makeup, do hair or not, etc. We should all support and empower one another to feel comfortable!

I agree with the others, I think you are being wayyyyy too hard on yourself. The patient asked why you were administering the medication/"poking" her with needles and you responded appropriately as to why the medication is being administered and potential side effects of not receiving the medication. Sounds like you are new at your job so you are probably still getting comfortable but yourself some slack. This won't be the last time a patient gets upset and misunderstands/twists your words. You handled this situation appropriately, have faith and confidence in yourself.