What class in nursing school do they teach you surgical procedures?

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I am SO excited to reach that class soon, whatever class it is.

I love seeing blood, the way they do sutures, etc etc. I'm hearing impaired and I learn way better doing hands on.

Anything hands on, is fun to learn for me but I'm more excited for surgical procedures and "sewing" pts up! :D

I'm a surgical NP-I always try and invite the nursing student over to the field. I remember being a scared little nursing student myself and standing waaay off in the corner. Boo.

I remember being scared to death of compromising anything sterile LOL. One of my fellow students had her OR experience the week prior to us, and she reached right over the big tray of sterile goodies...she was mortified! Of course this was right at the forefront of our brains when we went in the following week, so we stood WAAAY out of the way...hands clasped together so we weren't tempted to touch anything LOL!

Surgical NP sounds interesting!! :)

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Specializes in ICU, Med-Surg, Float.

A day in the OR? We got 6 weeks as part of our nursing school - 2 weeks of observation then a week each of anaesthetics, recovery, scrub and circulating! Guess we were lucky! But yeah, I think you're confusing nursing with medicine lol [emoji33]

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A day in the OR? We got 6 weeks as part of our nursing school - 2 weeks of observation then a week each of anaesthetics, recovery, scrub and circulating! Guess we were lucky! But yeah, I think you're confusing nursing with medicine lol [emoji33]

Holy crap! Some people in my class didn't even get a DAY in the OR. Now the program I went through they do one day but they follow one patient through the entire process: pre-op, surgery, recovery, and then either post-op or to the floor.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I've been a student in four different nursing programs (LVN, ASN, BSN, MSN) and did not learn surgical procedures in any of my schooling adventures.

The closest I got was observing the surgeon perform a gastrostomy tube insertion in the surgery suites during my LVN clinical rotations in 2005.

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Specializes in Neuro/Trauma Critical Care.

In regards to awful blunders in the OR -- I work for a wonderful doctor who has let me shadow him in the OR a number of times. The first time I touched the sterile microscope with my bare hands... I literally wanted to melt into a puddle. I think everyone in the room wanted to kill me haha.

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In regards to awful blunders in the OR -- I work for a wonderful doctor who has let me shadow him in the OR a number of times. The first time I touched the sterile microscope with my bare hands... I literally wanted to melt into a puddle. I think everyone in the room wanted to kill me haha.

That is hilarious lol

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Yes, sterile fields are one of my least favorites because of how easy you can mess up lol.

Thank you all for sharing! NP may be my path soon :)

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Specializes in ICU, Postpartum, Onc, PACU.

It depends, but usually in the Medsurg/Advanced Medsurg clinicals or even in PICU/Peds. I got really lucky and got to see a few in Med/Surg, the highlight there being a couple CABGs where the cardio surgeon was nice enough to let me get on a stool at the head of the bed (by the Anesthesiologist/CRNA) so I could see everything. That was epic! In Peds I was at a children's hospital, which is the BEST for seeing pediatric anything and everything and got to see a couple cool surgeries there that I'd never get to see on the adult population. My case study for that class was on a 28 weeker with truncus arteriosis who'd had a clear covering over her chest since she was too small to close in the first surgery. She wasn't able to be moved to the OR for some reason (mind you, this was nearly 10 years ago and I can't remember the reason haha) so they brought the surgical team up to the PICU and did the surgery in the room. She was so small, though, that I didn't get to see much :p If you make yourself available at the right time (or are just lucky) you'll get to see some cool stuff, but that's not the majority of what you'll see. When I was pre-med in college we got to practice suturing in advanced anatomy (the class where you and a couple friends have to dissect a whole cadaver, something you don't get to do in basic human anatomy), but usually nursing school doesn't afford that type of experience or practice. Good luck and I hope you see a lot!! xo

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Finish your RN, go to work in the OR and then become a RNFA which is a first assist.

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I guess that I somewhat echo the OP's question; I thought in RN programs they still had a surgical rotation. What I mean is that nurses used to assist in the OR with cleaning, handing tools and such. Have surgical techs taken over that position now?

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I was fortunate enough to be about 5 feet from the surgeon during a parathyroidectomy when I did my clinical surgery rotation but that's as good as it gets. But be careful of that sterile field!!

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I may get to have a day in the OR during my 4th semester. Currently in my 2nd and the only reason I have been in the OR was because 2 of my patients during my OB rotation ended up having C-sections. I did help move laps from the table where they placed them to a "lap counter" thingy (the name escapes me) so that they would be easier to count. That is the closest I have gotten to and probably will get to "sewing up patients", at least until I become a midwife and be able to be a 1st assist.

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