Transferred from L&D to the OR

Published Dec 24, 2017

1 Post

I had been an L&D nurse for 5 years before transferring to the Operating Room. I loved my job, but felt burnt out and thought of trying something different. I thought that the OR would be great for me because I had experience circulating for c-section in L&D and also had experience in scrubbing for c-sections. I loved the OR in L&D.

In April 2017, about 8 months now, I made the switch to the main OR in a trauma hospital. At first I felt very happy about my decision and was so excited to get to work and learn something new. It took some time for me to get used to it. I felt stressed out every day and would sometimes come home crying. Right now I feel somewhat comfortable and definitely a lot less stressed. I mostly do orthopedic, spine, general, and plastic cases.

Recently I have been feeling more and more regret for changing specialties. I feel like I am not using a lot of the nursing skills that I used to in L&D and I don't have a lot of patient interaction like I used to. When people ask me about what I do for a living, I used to be so proud to say I work in L&D and now when I talk about my job in the OR, I don't feel the same sense of pride. I feel like my heart is still in L&D.

When I worked on L&D I had a 12 hour night shift position. The one thing that I really like about the OR is that I work during the Day 7am-3:30pm. My fiance loves the fact that I am home every night for dinner. But I feel miserable waking up every day for work and really miss having more days off during the week.

I feel so torn right now, because I like working during the day, but don't really love the work I do. If I went back to L&D, it would be straight back to 12 hours Night shifts and would take a few years before I could get onto day shift.

Should I go back? Or just learn to love the OR? Do you think 8 months is too soon to judge whether I really like it?