scrub tech student looking for advice

[willitblend?]

I'm in a SurgTech/Scrub tech program, it seems quite solid, 2.5 months into 12 (still in didactic). Grades are fine, main instructor is a 20 year OR nurse whose scrubbed & circulated for lo these many moons. He is old, foul-mouthed, and loves his children (us) very much :)

I was a hospital corpsman in the USN (for the civvies corpsman are sortof like orderlies/LVN/CNA/EMT/techs).

I was also a neurodiagnostic tech. I wanted to get some of my GI Bill out of the VA and get back into the hospital,

preferably the OR (seen a bit intraoperative neuro-monitoring/SSEPs etc). Now it looks like the whole first assistant is an excellent route.

Pretty simple. Except that the economy is in the crapper and I'm concerned about jobs after the school. (We have a super good program.. and 2 months after graduation 5 out of 18 grads have OR gigs! )

There are some ways to get an A.S.(N) and be eligible to sit for the NCLEX-RN, because of being a medic, that my ST classmates don't have. Would the RN be a good credential to snag?

Some caveats here.

1. For better or for worse I have ZERO ZERO ZERO interest in med-surg. Wards are horrible. I'd rather sell insurance. Part of the reason I avoided the nursing profession (RN) like the plague was because of the "1-3 years on the wards before anything else" stories. Now it seems I listened to the wrong people (hey.. it's an idiot surprise! BTDT!))

2. I'm not too keen on the circulator role. I want to be up in the sterile field doing as much as possible. Still according to our instructor scope of practice for a CST is "thou shalt not administer meds". We did that as corpsman. It's my understanding a RN can administer meds/IV-push in the OR just like they can other places?

3. I was planning to take a CFA course literally as soon as I got the CST passed, but I have to have a job that gets me scrubbed, often, all the d4mn time in fact. Would a "I'm a CST who has/is about to have an RN" help in getting that CST job?

Moreover.. how much hate am I likely to get from the OR Nurses if I let slip I'm running with this sort of agenda?

Is snagging an RN good/bad/indifferent if my only real interest is working in the sterile role/s of scrub or FA?

I would be most grateful for any input.

[linda2097]

1. Generally, RN's earn twice as much as scrub techs.

2. Circulating is a pain in the butt. Scrubbing is more fun.

3. From your preferences, I would recommend that you would become an RNFA. Just be warned that few hospitals use them....

http://www.luzerne.edu/coned/career/rnfa.jsp

[willitblend?]

Linda,

Thanks for the info. I had a chat with my teacher and he advised me to get any credentials possible in the time I had as a matter of principle.

He agreed with both #1 and #2. :)

[shodobe]

Just make sure what classes you need to take the NCLEX because each state is different in what they require. Calif is the toughest and just because you have been a medic in the military doesn't always allow you to automatically sit for exams.

[willitblend?]

Shodobe,

I will investigate it carefully. Thank you for the heads up. I suspect TN will be less troublesome (from my POV) than Cali would be (phew!).

I have another 5 months of didactic before clinical rotations begin, and I've asked for my second clinical (the second 3 month rotation) to be done at my preferred prospective employer. Hopefully the OR director will have need of a bright person with an immense capacity to tolerate BS :)