Question

mikethern · Mar 2, 2007

If you want to wear a sterile gown and gloves and hand instruments to surgeons, you don't have to become a nurse. After high school, you can train for about a year to become a surgical technologist AKA scrub tech AKA operating room tech. They make roughly $15-20 an hour.

If you want to become an operating room RN, you need to get good grades during high school because it is hard to get into nursing school. Once you become an RN, if you are lucky, you may find an operating room who hires new grads. Otherwise, you need at least of year of floor nursing experience first.

Operating room nurses either scrub (like a scrub tech) or circulate. Circulating means being in charge of one operating room suite during the day and helping with positioning, prepping, documenting, assessing, medicating, fetching items during surgery. Chances are that you will circulate a lot more often than scrubbing, because hospitals prefer scrub techs to scrub because they get paid less.

RN's make $20-45 an hour.

If you want to work in an operating room, I suggest applying for any operating room job you can get right now, such as nursing assistant or housekeeper to get your foot in the door. If you do a good job, and the boss likes you, it will be easy for you to get a job as a nurse in that operating room when you graduate nursing school.

If you get a job now, you will also see what operating room nursing is really like, so you will know for sure whether or not you want to spend the rest of your life working in one.

Otremba2 · Mar 3, 2007

In school now I'm taking AP classes such as Biology and Calc BC. My rank is 12th out of 620. I am very motivated and inspired by nursing and operations.

Your advice really helped. I want to know if I will be comfortable with this occupation and I will follow through with your advice this upcoming summer.

Now as a junior in high school I am just trying to find good universities with great opportunities and benefits in a nursing program.

Would you or anyone else know of a great nursing school in IL?

Also thank you so much for responding...you really helped clarify some things for me.

mikethern · Mar 3, 2007

Would you or anyone else know of a great nursing school in IL?

You can get either an associates degree or bachelors degree. I recommend getting a bachelors degree because it will allow you to go to grad school if you wish.

It doesn't really matter which nursing school you go to. Any nurse can easily find a job at any hospital in the country. Just pick a 4-year college that you like that has a nursing program. If you choose a state school, you will save money on tuition.

Be warned though that many nurses do NOT enjoy being a nurse. Read a lot of posts on allnurses.com and you will see what I mean. Nursing is not an easy job. It is hard stressful work. Like I said, you should try to get a job in an operating room now to see what it's really like.

henrysnana · Mar 12, 2007

Hello to all the nurses out here.
I'm still a junior in High School but I have always been interested in nursing.
I specifically want to become a scrub nurse due to the fact I have a high interest in operations but is there any one out there that can give me more details on the duties of a scrub nurse and the chance of becoming one after graduating college?
Thanks for your time.

I agree with mikethern, many OR nurses are not happy with their jobs, or any nurses, for that matter. It's a hard profession. I'd highly recommend going into the scrub tech program for 1 yr. if your interest is surgery. That way, you can find out whether or not it's really what you're expecting & not waste 4 yrs. if it turns out that you really don't like it. And where I live, starting pay for techs is closer to $10. Not much, but at least you'd know for sure if that's the route you want to pursue for a career. Then, if you find out that is indeed what you want, you could go to RN school. The experience you'll get as a scrub tech will be invaluable if you do pursue the nursing career.