Transition from Operating room RN to Med Surg Floor?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hey everyone,

I'm currently an operating room RN in a level one trauma center. I've decided that I want to go back to school and become a nurse practitioner. However, I feel like I need to get some experience out there on the floor before I apply to grad school since OR nursing is so different than all of the other specialties. Is there anyone out there that has gone from OR nurse to floor or vice versa? What are some of the challenges I will face and how can I adapt?

Also how can I present myself in an interview to have a fair chance of getting a job with only OR nursing on my resume?

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I got a year of med-surg experience before I transferred to the OR. I felt it was challenging to have 6-7 patients (nights) on med-surg. In order to not to forget tasks, I organized patients information by using brain sheets. Other than that, I think you would better review patient assessment before start working on med-surg because I don't think OR nurses do that kind of task usually. Good luck.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I work ICU but also have M/S experience.

I would urge you to seek out an ICU experience and you could use your "procedural" experience as a selling point.

Perhaps a SICU.

Although M/S is a beast of its own, I feel it can be super task oriented at times and it's hard to really keep tabs on things like lab trends, hemodynamics, and changing physical assessments of your patients.

As a M/S Nurse you are coordinating care for up to 7 patients at some hospitals, and ICU routinely has anywhere from 1-3. I've only taken care of 2 max patients in the ICU.

Especially in terms of wanting the experience to help you as an NP.

As a M/S Nurse it was hit and run... pass meds pass meds pass meds and let skim over labs and check vitals real quick. You are pushed to your limit and it's really hard to really sit down and get to read over your patients chart, labs, and MD notes.

I get to do this a lot more in ICU and I'm fortunate for that experience.

also ...

I just think ... and this is just my personal opinion that going from OR to say a SICU would be easier then going from OR to say a medical genera floor.

Just my 2 cents :)

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This is so helpful thank you so much! After reading this post I realized that I definitely want to work in the ICU. It sounds like the OR is similar to M/S in that they're both task oriented. And I want to be able to look at my patients labs, providers notes, and do in depth assessments. I appreciate your feedback!

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Specializes in Critical Care.
This is so helpful thank you so much! After reading this post I realized that I definitely want to work in the ICU. It sounds like the OR is similar to M/S in that they're both task oriented. And I want to be able to look at my patients labs, providers notes, and do in depth assessments. I appreciate your feedback!

And if you end up working SICU/Trauma ICU, the OR nurse in you will kick in when the surgeons decide to perform a bedside surgery...! Lol

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
I work ICU but also have M/S experience.

I would urge you to seek out an ICU experience and you could use your "procedural" experience as a selling point.

Perhaps a SICU.

Although M/S is a beast of its own, I feel it can be super task oriented at times and it's hard to really keep tabs on things like lab trends, hemodynamics, and changing physical assessments of your patients.

As a M/S Nurse you are coordinating care for up to 7 patients at some hospitals, and ICU routinely has anywhere from 1-3. I've only taken care of 2 max patients in the ICU.

Especially in terms of wanting the experience to help you as an NP.

As a M/S Nurse it was hit and run... pass meds pass meds pass meds and let skim over labs and check vitals real quick. You are pushed to your limit and it's really hard to really sit down and get to read over your patients chart, labs, and MD notes.

I get to do this a lot more in ICU and I'm fortunate for that experience.

also ...

I just think ... and this is just my personal opinion that going from OR to say a SICU would be easier then going from OR to say a medical genera floor.

Just my 2 cents :)

I think it also depends more on what kind of NP OP wants to go for. If she wants to do something like FNP, I think med/surg would probably be better as she will see more and more diagnoses and treatment plans. If she wants to become an acute care NP, then ICU is definitely the place to go.

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