Wondering about Operating Room

[CanCan]

I am a new grad and I was able to get a job on a med/surg floor. I like it a lot, but feel that it is very hectic...(in canada there are no assistants so we do everything for the pts) Not that the U.S is any easier by any means..... Anyways i have always had a desire to work in the OR, but during school i stuck to all the floors for my clinical placements because i wanted to learn all the wound care, bedside care, etc. So i never had any placements in OR except for one day we all got to see one surgery....I loved the environment....

So i was planning on applying to an OR position while im currently working on med/surg... i was really excited about my decision. I told my parents and they said you have to have a certain personality for the OR and you have to be strong and very smart...... this just made me rethink my whole plan and now I'm very sad and don't know if i should apply to the OR....... is it very difficult? is it hard to adjust? are there strong personalities there?.......it was really my goal, but i feel like my parents are swaying me another way....

[RNperdiem, RN]

Can you arrange to shadow some OR nurses? Unless your parents work in OR, the nurses who actually work there will be the ones who know more.

If OR is what you want, you will go do your homework and look at what is required to apply, what the training involves, if you have to sign a contract for the hospital for a period of years after your OR training is complete etc.

In med-surg, your contact with your coworkers is intermittent, in the OR you work all in one room together shoulder-to-shoulder for hours at a time. You have to be able to get along well with others, because there is nowhere to hide.

[CanCan]

thanks for the input

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Perioperative nurses come in all varieties, just like everyone else. You will learn the appropriate communication skills in a Perioperative training class. IMO, the most important attribute for success is the ability to maintain strict adherence to process... no skipping steps, no work-arounds.

Based on my own experience, I think a shortage of qualified peri-op nurses is looming on the horizon. This group is usually the 'longest tenured' (I don't like the term 'oldest') specialty group - there isn't a lot of turnover. Students really don't get a decent exposure any more.. diploma programs used to offer a significant rotation in this area. I am starting to see more perioperative training programs popping up in my area of the country.

Perioperative training is lengthy. Normally, the courses start out with foundations, then go into each operative specialty. It usually takes a minimum of 6 months to achieve basic competency, so it is an expensive undertaking for the hospital. Therefore, the screening process to select participants may be very comprehensive. If you want to increase your chances, you may want to see if you can get training for assisting the physician with any 'invasive lite' type of procedures that may be done at the bedside such as central line or chest tube insertion. This will give you confidence with basic sterile processes.

Best of luck to you

[CanCan]

Thank you HouTx.... I'm also worried that it would be too hard, as my parents have said you need to be REALLY smart"

[SoHappyToBeRN]

You are clearly smart enough to have made it through nursing school and all that entails, and have been smart enough to land yourself in a job! I would take your parents comments as a challenge. Maybe start yourself in an outpatient surgery center and learn there. I am currently a new grad working in pre op and pacu at an outpatient surgery center. We also have a new grad who started in the OR because they could see he was very passionate about it! Good luck, I hope you follow your dreams...and don't listen to the nay Sayers (even if it is your parents)