Senior 2 Clinical Selection

[Kabin]

Our last semester clinical selection is called leadership and it's a 6 week period where we take on full patient loads, etc. I'm receiving conflicting information about the area to choose.

One instructor says pick the area you think you'll want to work in. Another instructor says pick traditional med-surg/bedside clinicals to gain additional experience/exposure for the NCLEX.

Since we're hospital based cohorts they'll hire and train our class directly into the OR. I need to decide in the next week. What would you do if you were a Senior 2 and wanted to work OR?

[ortess1971]

If you want to work OR-I would choose the OR clinical opportunity. The boards base questions on the "ideal" so med/surg clinicals won't help all that much. In fact, they may end up hurting you, because you'll see things that aren't being done by the book. Always follow your interests, IMO.

[MissJoRN, RN]

I agree with Ortess on the NCLEX issue!

This is a great OR opportunity that will help you decide if OR is for you or not. It's such a "private" place that it's hard to be sure until you try it and better to try it on school time than your own :) No matter what, you'll learn a lot and gain a whole new perspective on care of med-surg pts and the human body.

Good Luck

[Works2xs]

Sort of in the same position. Have a fellowship lined up for the OR post graduation this fall. One instructor was trying to persuade me to do a med-surg rotation, thinking that there were experiences there that I'd need in case I found the OR to not be of my liking. Had another instructor who flatly said that if you had an interest in such a specialty, why waste the time doing something else.

For me, it wasn't much of a decision. I was excited about the opportunity to start my career in the OR and looked at this last clinical rotation as a great way to get an intro to the area. I guess only time will tell whether this was a good move or not.

[Kabin]

Thanks all for the input! I've decided to go with the OR selection.