Why do nurses cringe when I say I want to be a OR nurse?

[mariawong]

I am a new grad nurse and recently passed the NCLEX exam :). I got a job offer at a hospital clinic that in the mean time will help me pay for my bachelors and my student loans while I practice my skills as a nurse and wait for the opportunity to open up. Every single time I mention the fact the I LOVE THE OR people make a face , and tell me that I won't have any skills as a nurse in there ( WHAT ! ) I have so much respect for OR nurses , pre op , post op , I personally think it is a beautiful career. Any thoughts on this ? I don't think anything will change my mind until I experience it myself . ? but I do feel pooped that others think that way .

[MiladyMalarkey, ASN, BSN]

OR is pretty competative to get into in my organization, surprising people look down on it.

[Florence Frightengale, BSN, RN]

I did OR for a short while (7 years into my nursing career), but I switched to the ED and now love it. My dislike of the OR didn’t have anything to do with the specialty itself, but rather from working four 10s dayshift, as opposed to the three 12s night shift I’d been used to for 7 years (I’ve always been a night owl). I just couldn’t get my body/mind to acclimate to working days. Apart from that I did like it. Good luck!

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

Who cares, do what makes you happy. There are plenty of old professors who think everyone should start out on a med surg floor. I was interested in OR when I was in school. Unfortunately the only OR rotation I got was watching a 2.5 hour knee replacement, yet I had to sit through OB and peds for months.

[HiddencatBSN, BSN]

On 8/7/2020 at 8:32 AM, CommunityRNBSN said:

People love to make faces and be negative. I work in an FQHC and somebody recently told me I was “being wasted here.” As in, I should be working somewhere “better.” She meant it as a compliment and I took it as one!— she thinks I’m awesome! But she also thinks my FQHC isn’t a good enough place for a competent nurse to work. *shrug* I’m working where I love, with the people I want to help. Don’t get hung up on people’s opinions; somebody will always have something to say.

Yup. People always have something go say. I get “ughhhh, I could never do that” a ton when I say what my specialty is. It’s annoying but doesn’t change the fact that I like what I do.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

OK, I will be the dissenting voice. If one worked exclusively in the OR, I see no reason to be an RN. You hardly have any patient contact. One does need to be able to think quickly on your feet and be able to troubleshoot the equipment and be expert in keeping a safe room but I don't know that an RN degree is the most efficient way to provide that service. I've always thought that we needed the ORN degree (operating room nurse) and that they are trained in sterility, room and process safety, communication skills, some ACLS skills (be familiar with preparing emergency drugs and BLS) and the art of team building. None of these are taught in college. The orientation period is long (where is all the stuff you might need in a hurry?). This would be an associate degree. Then, if one wants to become qualified in to work in PACU or Pre-op they could go on for the BSN. I have watched hospitals "train" so many OR nurses and then watch them leave after orientation to go to another place who would't hire them without OR experience. It's expensive and frustrating to watch this and I wasn't even an employee of the hospital but felt their pain. These ORN's can graduate on Friday and be up and running on Monday.

[HiddencatBSN, BSN]

3 minutes ago, subee said:

OK, I will be the dissenting voice. If one worked exclusively in the OR, I see no reason to be an RN. You hardly have any patient contact. One does need to be able to think quickly on your feet and be able to troubleshoot the equipment and be expert in keeping a safe room but I don't know that an RN degree is the most efficient way to provide that service. I've always thought that we needed the ORN degree (operating room nurse) and that they are trained in sterility, room and process safety, communication skills, some ACLS skills (be familiar with preparing emergency drugs and BLS) and the art of team building. None of these are taught in college. The orientation period is long (where is all the stuff you might need in a hurry?). This would be an associate degree. Then, if one wants to become qualified in to work in PACU or Pre-op they could go on for the BSN. I have watched hospitals "train" so many OR nurses and then watch them leave after orientation to go to another place who would't hire them without OR experience. It's expensive and frustrating to watch this and I wasn't even an employee of the hospital but felt their pain. These ORN's can graduate on Friday and be up and running on Monday.

Well, unfortunately, the OP can't go back in time and complete a degree that doesn’t exist instead of nursing school.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

1 hour ago, HiddencatBSN said:

Well, unfortunately, the OP can't go back in time and complete a degree that doesn’t exist instead of nursing school.

I had hoped to give her another view of what OR nursing skillsets are and that PACU and Pre-op are different practices than the OR. She is a new grad and trying to make a decision on something she knows nothing about. I didn't want to get into this but I'll tell her why SOME people may grimace:

In the olden times back in the late 70's and early 80's, I worked in a large hospital in NYC on the floor. The OR was where nurses who had exhibited a "lack of people skills" were sent rather than the union attempting to have their jobs kept on the floors. It was just easier to offer that alternative than trying to outright fire them. I can't imagine that this new grad is getting this from anyone old enough to remember that:) So, on second thought, I advise her to ask the folks who make a face, what they mean by it. I could be wrong assuming that they just don't don't see it as nursing. I don't either. It is AS important in it's own right and the person doing the job needs to have a license (since the scrub tech doesn't) but there is nothing on that NCLEX that transfers to OR nursing.

[C.Love, MSN, NP]

I worked in the OR for 10 years and found it very hard at first due to an unstructured preceptor-ship in the beginning. Once I learned the job, it was very interesting once they taught me to scrub and circulate. I love the anatomy and the flow of surgery. I felt I gave up my nursing skills I learned in school to be replaced with new specialized skills. I found many of the surgeons and surgical techs were of bad character, but some great ones too. I got bored after awhile and went to learn critical care (my favorite). I say go where you want and enjoy it. I also will tell you it's hard to branch out to another type of nursing after years in the OR. My husband is a long time OR nurse and RNFA that then hurt his back and shoulders and went back for an MSN/MBA and had to move on. He always wished he would have branched out to other types of nursing too. Good luck and enjoy the job.

[BrendaH84, BSN]

met a girl in nursing school. friends ever since. I work in a hospital, she started in a Dr's office, then she transferred to their surgery center when she obtained her BSN.

she is supposed to be 7:30 -3:30 PM, 5 days a week. in a nice clean sterile environment.

she's usually out by 2:pm & the Docs try to not schedule anything on Fridays or only a few, so she's out sometimes by noon on a Friday, or doesn't even have to go in! still gets paid for 40 hours.

me: I wipe butts, empty foleys rather than nag a tech, get coughed on all day, I've been thrown up on, had my face touched by poopy hands, or those poopy hands ran their fingers down the back of my head/hair. I've walked through pee and poo on the floor, and had to clean it or risk someone falling, had some horribly mean charge nurses or managers, and I've had people pull their IV's out squirting me with blood (cuz they were worried the tape would pull their arm hair if done slowly, even though I told them I have some wipes to dissolve the glue.

... ya aim for surgery, sounds much better

[C.Love, MSN, NP]

Every discipline has it's pluses and minuses, and in each one it's good to have respect and compassion for the patient.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

6 hours ago, BrendaH84 said:

met a girl in nursing school. friends ever since. I work in a hospital, she started in a Dr's office, then she transferred to their surgery center when she obtained her BSN.

she is supposed to be 7:30 -3:30 PM, 5 days a week. in a nice clean sterile environment.

she's usually out by 2:pm & the Docs try to not schedule anything on Fridays or only a few, so she's out sometimes by noon on a Friday, or doesn't even have to go in! still gets paid for 40 hours.

me: I wipe butts, empty foleys rather than nag a tech, get coughed on all day, I've been thrown up on, had my face touched by poopy hands, or those poopy hands ran their fingers down the back of my head/hair. I've walked through pee and poo on the floor, and had to clean it or risk someone falling, had some horribly mean charge nurses or managers, and I've had people pull their IV's out squirting me with blood (cuz they were worried the tape would pull their arm hair if done slowly, even though I told them I have some wipes to dissolve the glue.

... ya aim for surgery, sounds much better

Sounds like a great gig. I have never worked anyplace so unbusy. I'm not even sure how the finances can work for the long run.

[scuba-girl, BSN]

1 hour ago, subee said:

Sounds like a great gig. I have never worked anyplace so unbusy. I'm not even sure how the finances can work for the long run.

haha, because they do many other things there, like colonoscopies. and she said a sx has a set time frame where the Dr says this will probably take 1.5 hours , but if it only takes 45 minutes they can move on to someone else. many physicians work there. surgeons also make plenty of money on office visits and consults etc. so they allocate some money to pay a nurse full time