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Discussion

Question for nursing professionals

:stone

Hi all I am currently a nursing student at University at Buffalo and also a surgical tech at a pediatric hospital for five years now. To complete a requirement for my nursing ciriculum I need to pose a question to nursing professionals and recieve some responses. I would appreciate any feedback that you could give me thank you in advance.

here is the question

As we know many nursing education programs offer a limitted or no perioperative expierence content (Latz & Nordbye 2004). My question to you is do you feel that it is necessary to require expierence for new graduate nurses before entering the OR, or do you feel that a newly graduated RN could enter the OR without expierence and become a functional team member? Any imput you may have will be appreciated.

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Since there seems to be a shortage of nurses in all different areas, most hospitals have training programs for new grads. I went through ICU training and OR training. It was 4 months for ICU and 6 months for OR. I think with this training you gain an understanding of what is expected. As with any job, those who have been doing it for a long time obviously know more and are more experienced. I think nursing in any area is like this though...we all start out with some very basic skills and must learn to be flexible in whatever area we choose to specialize in. New skills for new areas can always be built and/or added on to previous ones. Therefore, I don't feel that any nursing speciality can turn new grads away since we all have to be oriented and there are orientation programs available.

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I have known new grads who have gone directly into the OR immediately after graduation and have done marvelously. And then I have known some that have failed miserably. But this happens in any area..........If the nurse is really thrilled with learning, then the OR can be a great place, but that depends on the preceptor, the educational program, as well as the rest of the team. There is so much to learn, well past the orientation period. We all still continue to learn on a daily basis....new things are always coming out, new procedures to learn, etc.

Hope that this helps.............. :)

I think a new grad with no/limited experience in OR is fine to start in that area. Nursing school provides the theory and general "basics" that are needed for entry-level OR nursing.

i agree with everyone who has already posted; i am living proof of starting out in the or upon graduation - i did it! and i still love my job. i would also add that adding some increased or experience to a nursing curriculum might entice a few more students to consider the or as a career. right now, very few nursing students get the full flavor of the or, and most consider it extremely boring because all they get to do is stand in a corner, holding up a wall for 3 hours. i was lucky because i am related to physicians, and got the opportunity to be treated like a medical student for an entire summer, had paid liability insurance, and scrubbed in to several procedures. the nurses teaching me were the best! i loved it so much, i woke up before my alarm clock, and that doesn't happen to me. needless to say, it's what prompted me to go to nursing school.

  • Author

Thank you all for posting responses to my question. I also love workinjg in the OR and can not wait to do it as a nurse now instead of a surge tech. There is just so much to learn I learn something new everyday and rarely get board, well except for those occasions of being scrubbed for 5 to 6 hours at a time. Anyways I am worried about making the transition from tech to nurse though I feel that I am going to be missing out by not standing at the table, hopefuly I will be able to still scrub on occasion. I do think that there should be a more indepth focus on surgical nursing in nursing school. Thank You all again for responses.

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