When I was still a student nurse, working in the operating room (OR) had never occurred to me in nursing school-- then again, who would have thought I would become a nurse in the first place. About half of my classmates wanted to work in labor and delivery. There were the usual aspiring ER/ICU nurses, and quite a handful of us that were very well undecided. Med-Surg? Yeah, why not. Having graduated in 2008, every one of us would have been happy with any gainful employment that did not involve working in a skilled nursing facility. (I give props to any of those who work there, but it certainly was not a place for me… strangely enough, many others would agree).
One reason is that clinical rotations in nursing school do not typically involve more than one day in the OR, so if I can recall, there weren’t many opportunities for a student nurse to really delve into this area of nursing specialty. Since there was only one day, the student nurse decides based on how interesting the case might be, and of course, that would be patients getting face lifts or liposuctions. Who cares if another patient is getting a bowel resection or a craniotomy? Sure, I would rather want to see how it would look like if I got a surgical facelift or have my fat stabbed and sucked out of me.
So, you’re asking at this point, what makes any nurse want to go into OR? Well, opportunity. A nurse colleague once told me in the most wide-eyed and mouth-gaping fashion after telling her I had a job offer to work in the OR and be properly trained for it, “Take the job, because hospitals don’t train OR nurses anymore.” As it wasn’t cost effective to do so, I thought. She told me that OR nurses are always in demand, especially if I wanted to be a travel nurse. Ooh, I’ll always be wanted and I get to travel, I’m sold already. Are you?
Thus far, in my experience working in the OR, there are few things I can tell you clearly without inundating you with academic textbook definitions of perioperative nursing. Here it is in a nutshell:
- Surgical nurses are lot like party planners. Although each member of the surgical team knows what they need to do, you make sure that everyone is in their right place and are ready to start the case. Also, you give patients a party hat (surgical cap/bouffant) to wear before they head to the OR.
- You assess patients like any other nurse would do to make sure the patient is safe for surgery.
- You are the bed driver. Ensure you do not bump the guerney in any of the walls. Do not run over other staff members either.
- You help anesthesiologists when patients are put to sleep and awaken from anesthesia.
- You display a professional level of OCD in making sure sterile technique is rigorously implemented by all members of the team including yourself.
- You need to be able to open items such as implants onto sterile fields properly without dropping them on the floor. Butter-fingered nurses are not allowed as it can cost the hospital thousands of dollars. Good thing they do not take it out of your paycheck.
- Oh yeah, you chart a lot as always. If you’re lucky, it’s electronic.
- If you like to plug machines and equipments like you probably already do at home. Let’s say, your home theater system, computer or blow dryer? You need to have a certain degree of tech-savvy and troubleshooting skills.
There is more to OR nursing than this. Any other OR nurse would probably “bop” me over the head with a leg holder for writing this. However, being a good OR nurse takes more than putting patient safety and comfort and advocacy in the forefront of surgery, although that’s important too. Surgical nurses need to have the foresight capabilities to know what is needed and expected for the surgical case you are assigned to, otherwise, you will be running back and forth, in and out of the room grabbing and finding stuff for the surgeon, scrub tech, and anesthesiologist. If you are too busy doing that, then how will you have time to think about the safety of your patient?
In any case, if you are interested in becoming a surgical nurse, know that standard nursing skills do not necessarily apply in this field. You will probably forget how to start an IV, but you will be damn good at starting foley catheters. Plus, your sterile technique will be top notch compared to other nursing specialties. You’re assigned one patient per case, and will know at least a day ahead what your assignments will be… for the most part.
