NursingLink

I'm wanting to work in the OR. I am absolutely fascinated every time I get to observe a surgery during clinical!

We only have one hospital in town but it is growing by leaps and bounds. There is a new surgical wing that is scheduled to open sometime this summer. I do get to do my preceptorship in surgery, which will be awesome. One of my instructors started out as an OR nurse and she goes in with me and explains everything that is going on and why. The first surgery I saw was a laparotomy and the lady had a 10cm tumor on her ovary. It was amazing how the surgeon got it out without breaking it....completely fluid filled and could see all the blood vessels going through it. The pathologist came in and had me come over while he examined it and explained everything he was doing. I'm so glad for this lady that it wasn't cancerous. It's no wonder her belly was huring!

Ok then ask your instructor what steps you should take to get your foot in the door in the OR. I'll bet she can help you, by introducing you to the OR manager, etc. It;s worth a try

Seems like it. I was trained back in the day when only a very few gyn procedures were done laparoscopically. Orthopaedics did knee arthroscopy. My first surgical experience as a student was an open gall bladder. The surgeon I was scrubbed with was extremely tall, over 6'6" and I of course am extremely not tall, standing at 4'11" I was standing on two steps, when the surgeon grabbed the light and pulled it over the field, knocking me right off the steps, where I landed on my back with my arms up in the air........as if this would keep me sterile. He was absolutely horrified and I was hooked.

StalightRN: Good Luck tomorrow! Let us know what you learn!

Sorry, it's not OR classroom stuff, it's general hospital orientation that everyone that is hired has to go through. That's the boring stuff. I would never say that any OR orientation was boring in OR or classroom. Sorry I guess I didn't make that clear
I know at this hospital in each room they have 1 RN and 2 techs. So the RN usually doesn't scrub in. My sister is an OR nurse at the hospital I work at now and they have 2 RN's and 1 tech in each room. They have 1 RN that scurbs in and 1 that circulates. She said they had a nurse that was going to go to work at the hospital I will be doing prn at and had accepted the job, but then changed her mind b/c she didn't like the idea of not being able to scrub in. I would like to scrub in, but if I can get some experience circulating I can always go back to the other hospital as an experienced OR nurse.

I enjoyed my OR rotation during school. I know many nurses who enjoy it thoroughly. One thing I feel I must add for new nurses entering the field is that, at least in our institution, most RN's who work OR do not scrub in. Most are the circulating nurse. This is generally not a good way to develop actual patient care, assessment & critical thinking skills as a new nurse. OR nurses coming into our clinical setting have floundered without the most basic of these cerebral and physical skills. We have yet to have one succeed and stay. Be cognizant of what you may want to do in the future. The actual patient care experience you gain as a new nurse on a hospital unit is invaluable. Know that you historically will not get it in the operating suite.

I have worked on an acute care floor for 2 1/2 years. I have cared for oncology/dialysis and regualr med surg patients. I wanted to work on the floor right after school to get some experience and get a big picture of what nursing is all about. I feel 2 1/2 years is enough time to move onto something new and more specialized. I would like to be able to scrub in, but may have to get my experience as a circulating nurse at this hospital and then move on to another one that lets RN's scrub in.

Do you work in the OR RNdude?

RNdude, you're one of the absolute first non OR nurses I've ever had the pleasure to talk to who had any concept at all what is involved in the OR. I think lots of nurses and other staff members think we sit around, eating ice cream and telling jokes all the time.

StalightRN & dmazment, I'll try my best to address both of your posts in this. I spent multiple days in the OR during our surgery rotation in school. We were introduced to the RN who was the circulating nurse in each room. There were actually times when they would pull out the newspaper and read at their table. They would hold everyone's pagers and return their calls, locate supplies the surgeon needed and keep the sponge & instrument counts. I kept thinking "Man, don't they want to be the one up there assisting with the case?" But I just decided "To each their own." I'm not naive enough to believe that this was representative of "OR nursing" as an entity. I have always tried to pay close attention to Nurses in areas of expertise other than my own for the simple purpose of understanding their focus, purpose and mindset. I'm happy that I didn't offend anybody with any of my posts and I appreciate your kind comments.

StalightRN said:

My first day in the OR is going to be Monday 3/10. I'm so psyhed.

I loved my day in OR in clinicals. I don't know that even when I get my Rn that I would want to work there, but observing was really cool. I got to watch a open laparotomy, very interesting. I stood outside the sterile field on a stool. The doctor explained things and so did the CRNA. Before it was over I got to assist with suctioning; I changed the chamber. Still very interesting and most informative. Did not hurt the Dr. was nice and likes when students are interested. Small hospitals can be good for something, I went to high school with the Dr. not that he remembers me, LOL.

When I started nursing school I thought I wanted to be an OR nurse. I was really psyched for my first procedure, a knee arthroscopy. But even tho I scrubbed in, the surgeon didn't really want students and I spent the whole time in a corner, bored, not able to see anything. So I was thrilled when I did L&D and got to see a C-section. The OB was very open to having a student, and had me right up by him when he made the incision. The sight of the trickling blood was too much for me: I found myself outside the OR in a chair with my head between my knees. My instructor told me I'd staggered from the room white as a sheet. At least I had enough wits left to leave before I fell. :D

The sight of blood doesn't bother me now: as an ER nurse I've seen lots of gore, and even assisted in a couple of thoracotomy's, which was pretty cool.

Starlight: the first job is always nerve wracking, especially in a specialty field where there is so much to learn. Some of the nurses enjoy precepting and mentoring new nurses: find yourself one of those and you will learn faster than you ever thought you could. That's how I learned to be an ER nurse.

Best wishes!

Another nugget of advice. If you are not comfortable with your preceptor, don't think you can't speak out and get another one. Don't allow personality conflicts to interfere, which is why I said to speak up. It's the most specialized area of nursing, unlike any other area. So don't make the mistake you'll muddle through it and be miserable. There will be enough stress, just learning.

OMG, had my first day in the OR today and it is amazing. An amazingly amount of stuff to learn too. I hope I'm up to this. You know I'm kind of old and my hard drive is getting full. LOL. I just wish I could do it everyday, so I could learn it quicker.

Hello from an OR nurse from New Hampshire! I've been an OR nurse for 5 years and I love every minute of it - well ALMOST every minute! I am a CNOR and I circulate all types of cases in a busy 10 room OR but am the resource nurse for general and bariatrics. I love laparoscopic surgery, it's my favorite. The minimally invasive surgical suite with the ceiling mounted monitors and equipment is very high tech and fun to work with. OR nursing is very technical, very physically demanding, and at times you wonder if you are perfoming patient care or surgeon care! Keeping your patient safe is top priority, managing your time and equipment and people fall second. The pagers, my least favorite, come LAST. Being a good OR nurse involves using your knowlege of procedures, of the surgeons, of the equipment, of the patient ahead of time, coordination, organization, anticipation, the list goes on. You become pretty much everything to everyone, but may not be truly appreciated for this.

Knowlege is power.
My advice is learn all you can about every piece of equipment, every stapler, every procedure, and you will soon find that people will come to you for help, surgeons will prefer to have you in their room and you will be an invaluable asset. Stay busy helping others turn over rooms or moving patients, or any task that needs doing if you have down time, this can only help you learn. Helping pick cases or putting things away, great for learning where things are, you'll appreciate it when the surgeon is yelling that he wants something RIGHT NOW and you actually know where it is! Always ask for help when you need it, and offer to help others every chance you get, helpful to them AND you.

Personalities.
The OR generally sports staff with extremely strong personalities, that's just the way they are. Especially if they have been there forever, they are not going to change the way they do things, and will expect you to do it their way- learn the RIGHT way (AORN sets the standards for care in the OR) and decide what works best for you. Remember, within the RIGHT way to do something, there can be slight variations and they are all right, you will have your own style and that is good.

Attitude is important in the OR.
I have noticed that one person can influence the attitude of everyone in the room, so I try to keep things light and happy- positive attitude. It helps. I have great relationships with everyone that I work with and my surgeons and I text and call eachother all the time, communication is SO important, so nurture those relationships. I think I could practically burn the place down and it would be ok and vice versa simply because we feel comfortable communicating with eachother. If I interview my patient and read their history and physical and things don't quite jive or the positioning planned for the procedure seems incorrect, I call the surgeon and ask questions, they actually appreciate the fact that I am thinking ahead and putting two and two together.

Patient Interview.
You have about 3 minutes to make a connection with your patient! Learn everything you can before you even speak to the patient (I read the computer chart in the room before I go see the patient) and then my goal is not just to perform the necessary assessment, but to MAKE A CONNECTION in this short time. First, I ALWAYS smile. Some people even ask why I'm the only nurse smiling.. I tell them it's because I love my job and why wouldn't I smile. They appreciate smiles. Humor works great. I always make sure they are comfortable and VERBALIZE it, "I want to make sure that I do everything I can to make this experience better for you." I tell them my name of course and tell them there will be a quiz later, so they should remember it! ;-) Versed has an amnesia effect, retro even, so they may not remember meeting you at all, depending on when they get medicated. My challenge is to be memorable. I have received thank you notes and treats from patients who remembered, so I consider those my own personal brownie points! Just a little self challenge! You will also (if you stay in the OR for a while) see repeat customers, so reading the chart before seeing them will let you know if you cared for them last time (if you don't remember the name or face) and you can mention that you remember them. People like this, it is comforting! Patient perception of the whole experience is almost more important to them than the actual outcome- form a rapport, be there for your patient in that 3 minutes, it means everything.

I love my job. Did I say that already? When I don't love it, it's usually because I'm on call and working my 60th hour that week and just squirted myself in the eye with a pressurized bag of ringers or something. I try to laugh it off and come back refreshed the next day! I hope you will love it too!