I am wondering about the OR. I will be graduating from an accelerated nursing program in NY this August and was EXTREMELY interested in the OR. However, I just had my first real experience in the OR today at clinicals. It seemed to me (I may be totally way off base) that the nurses didn't really DO anything, which upsets me. On the other hand, the nurses were very nice and helpful. The scrub nurse handed the surgeon the instruments and talked to the circulating nurse who handed the scrub nurse instruments.
Can someone please explain to me exactly what goes on? I know the definitions of scrub nurse and circulating nurse and I've been on websites as well, but can someone who's actually in the OR explain to me his/her day of work.
Thank You so Much!
I'm also planning on volunteering in the OR on weekends to find out more about it.
I find too that many students hear negative things about OR nursing from their instructors and I think this colors their view of the OR to a degree. Like I said, your critical thinking skills are important because anything can happen.
One more reason I can't wait for my MSN and teaching position... I'd love to give students a great view of the OR, it's so hard to explainwhat we do- to other nurses, let alone lay people and student nurses just aren't prepared for their experience! My clinical instructor for OR placement was a psych nurse!! I was just lucky enough to be assigned to a room where the nurses like to teach and the surgeon insists students scrub! We'll never get more (enough) OR nurses they way things are.
MissJoRN, RN
414 Posts
One more reason I can't wait for my MSN and teaching position... I'd love to give students a great view of the OR, it's so hard to explainwhat we do- to other nurses, let alone lay people and student nurses just aren't prepared for their experience! My clinical instructor for OR placement was a psych nurse!! I was just lucky enough to be assigned to a room where the nurses like to teach and the surgeon insists students scrub! We'll never get more (enough) OR nurses they way things are.