Seeking advise from seasoned OR nurses

sandiegojames · Apr 26, 2010

Just my thoughts on your questions...

There are many many advanced opportunities that come from the OR. Management, educator, medical device sales, surgical first assist. OR nurses tend to be on the higher side of the salary scale simply because of the amount of call and extra pay for clinical lead positions and such.

I would never recomend a master's degree for a nurse if money is the primary reason or even if it is very important. With only a couple of exceptions, getting your masters will mean you make less money ultimately simply because the increased ammount you will make will most likely not make up for the loss of income from not working as much while in your master program and the cost of the program itself. Hour for hour I make more as a staff nurse than the Master's prepared Nurse Practitioners and the Physician Assistants in the operating room, and get a lot more vacations time.

One should only get a master's in nursing if they want to persue a goal for personal reasons. If you've always dreamed of being a Nurse Practitioner, by all means go for it, just don't expect to make a significantly higher salary.

Working on the floor is never a bad thing. Floor nursing is the back bone of nursing and you will take those skills any where you go. There are lots of great OR nurse's with no floor experience, but the more you understand the other side of the fence the better.

laph02 · Apr 28, 2010

Colleen,

Your questions cover many areas that I would like to respond to. I have been an RN for over 31 years. I am a diploma grad, later achieving my BS in Health Arts and 2 years ago, completing my Master's degree in Nursing, with an emphasis on Clinical Systems management. I worked med-Surg, ICU, and Newborn/Level 2 nursery prior to moving into the OR. I believe it helped me in my move to the OR, with which I have had a love (scrub/circulator, educator)/hate (manager, director) relationship for the last 18 years. From my personal experience, you can work in an OR and still want to work somewhere else. I am doing that now. I am very fortunate in that I have a job that I love, working in Special Procedures, and teaching the Periop 101 program one day a week. I work at a Magnet facility, and I firmly believe that no matter what you're opinion of the Magnet process is, there is a very distinct difference between a hospital that embraces Magnet principles, and one that doesn't. There are more opportunities for growth, in any area of the facility, educational opportunities are abundant, and there appears to be more RN/physician collaboration than I have seen in other facilities, though that can always be improved upon. Another concept that you will hear more about in the future, is staffing ratios for RN's, especially on Med-Surg units. As staffing ratio's improve from 6-10/1 to 4 or 5 to 1, care will improve, nurses will be less burned out, and positive outcomes will happen to both patients and nurses, especially those that are able to find meaning in caring for higher acuity patients in a safe and effective manner.

As to your question concerning career advancement, I would encourage you to pursue advanced degrees, because your return on investment can be counted in several ways. You will make more money, (I made more in my first year after grad school to cover the expenses I had in school), but more importantly you will learn about issues in nursing that are important to all of us. You will also improve your knowledge base, and, hopefully, be able to apply that knowledge base to be a force for change, and improvement in the way nurses practice. You will also improve your self esteem. You may decide to work on an ARNP degree, or you can go for the RNFA in the OR. In any event, opportunities are there, tuition reimbursement is a good negotiating point when interviewing, and unless we continue to grow as a profession, we will never move beyond the "handmaiden" tag, that some would suggest is a more accurate description of what nursing in the 21st century has become. Good luck as you complete your program.

Ilovethe80s · Apr 28, 2010

Thank you for responsing laph02! That was some very insightful information. And thankyou for addressing the staffing ratio's of RN's. I have found on the med-surg unit where I do clinicals that a lot of the nurses do feel burnt out, stressed, and I've seen some of them have what seem to be nervous breakdowns. In one rotation I had a nurse tell me working in med-surg was baptism by fire. A lot of them that I have spoken to feel that they spend more time charting than actually taking care of their patients and they feel that they don't get to care for their patients the way they need to. I know we are taught to prioritize, use time management and organizational skills, but it seems like such a common trend that I am seeing w/ med-surg nurses feeling like they have a huge load to carry. This is why I am somewhat anxious about working on a med-surg unit. I know I shouldn't listen to everyone else, but sometimes it's hard to ignore all of the comments and the behavior you observe when you see/hear it day in and day out. Again, thanks for your response!

Mr. & Mrs. RN · Apr 30, 2010

If you despise the floor, I don't think you need to head there first at all. I don't feel that it would have helped me anymore than nursing school did. The OR is a completely different arena. You'll get everything you need in school.