i thought i got the O.R. job

[hopingtobeanRNsoon]

i graduated from a foreign nursing school and i am very proud of that. i have experienced more than the typical american nursing school graduate (no offense peeps) because i went to school in a third world country and nurses that come from my country have very good reputation of being more advanced in skill and theory. anyway i applied to a small community hospital which is under the name of the big city hospital. i dont even remember sending my application to the OR position but i got a call about a week later inviting me to their open house and that the nurse manager in the OR was particularly interested in my resume. the interview went well, i thought i even got the job but i didnt want to be too over confident. the next day they called me back asking me for a second interview the following week. we agreed tuesday but on monday they called me back saying the clinical resource nurse was not available and they would have to interview me the following week. this lost all my excitement but nonetheless i showed up at the interview.

it went well beginning with the nurse manager. she stated they were really interested in my experience in perioperative nursing in nursing school until the clinical resource nurse aka charge nurse came in, i told her again about my experiences that caught the nurse managers eye in my resume. but then she suggested that i enroll in a perioperative nursing program and starting mentioning schools that offer so. she said that since they are in such a small community hospital their isnt enough funding to hire people with limited experience to even give a decent orientation/preceptorship/training. then they wont on about not really being affiliated with the big city hospital even if they have the same name although that big city hospital does offer perioperative nursing program. the nurse manager also said believe me if we had enough funding i would send you to the university to take that 12 week course and hire you at our OR but right now we need someone to keep up and running with us because we are getting busy.

i politely smiled and took in all of their word of advice. but what i am concerned about is why did they have to bring me all the way there to say all that? why couldnt they just say it over the phone or email? and if they already talked about it amongst themselves, they could have emailed it?

i didnt also want to ask them, if i do take that perioperative nursing course, would it be a guarantee to take the available OR slot in this hospital?

need some insights

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Couple of things:

Please try breaking up your post. I understand that you're a bit confused/upset about the situation, but your post is a bit difficult to read. I nearly gave up trying to get through it.

As to whether you will get the job if you do the periop course, that's a question only the hospital can answer.

Personally, I'd run as fast as possible away from this place. If they don't have time to orient anyone, maybe that's the reason the position is open. A course at a university can only teach you so much. It can't teach you where to find things or what surgeon preferences are. Only an orientation can teach that. How much support would you be getting? What would the hospital/unit orientation consist of? It almost sounds like this place throws new hires to the wolves.

[jessrene, LPN]

Sounds like maybe they are a bit diorganized about their hiring goals or maybe not sure what they want in a new employee themselves- from the way you describe it. Course work is never a guarantee for getting a position, but it doesn't hurt either right?