Question about continuing education hours as a nursing student:

williams84 · Nov 16, 2015

Join AORN as a student. Read the journals, check out their networking area on the website, and shadow as much as you can!

My foot in the door was an internship, but being 7 months out, maybe you can find a nursing assistant/tech job in the OR? We utilize them at my hospital and most of them are nursing students. Any kind of hands on experience you can get will only help you. Plus, then you can actually see if the job is for you. Most people don't understand what happens in the OR and they are disappointed when they get hired on. It's nothing like nursing school, but I honestly will never work in another area of nursing. When you fit, you know it.

Good luck!

Trauma_Llama · Nov 17, 2015

Any kind of hands on experience you can get will only help you. Plus, then you can actually see if the job is for you. Most people don't understand what happens in the OR and they are disappointed when they get hired on. It's nothing like nursing school, but I honestly will never work in another area of nursing. When you fit, you know it.
Good luck!

I totally agree with all of this. Does your nursing school have a final internship or clinical placement? We had an eight week "capstone clinical" and we got to request where we were placed. I choose the OR and managed to get placed there and it was a huge help. Also my current hospital accepts interns over the summer that work in the OR with a nurse, they are also usually students.

It is helpful to have been able to spend more than a day in the OR both so you are sure it is something you will like and be good at but it is encouraging for potential employers. They don't want to hire and train you only for you to realize you hate it and quit.

AORN is cheap as a student and looks good on a resume. The only time I had a membership was when I was looking for my first job.