I am a new grad rn. I want to be an OR nurse. Since it is hard to get into, what unit should I start on first to make my way to the OR? Med surg, ICU, labor and delivery, outpatient, etc…
Med Surg is a great baseline of experience for any job and ICU would give you amazing experience.
It depends on the hospital, I recommend a teaching hospital and apply for the specialty you really want! At the end of the day where ever you end up you’ll be on orientation for a few months learning everything so go for what you are most interested in.
I was also a new grad, and was hired to start in a peri-op program (HCA StaRN). It was fantastic! I've been in the OR now for 3 1/2 yrs and absolutely love it. You don't have to have any experience in any other area of nursing before starting in the OR. It would help, of course, but there's no reason not to go straight into the OR, since you'll be trained in everything you need to know. I also continue to learn every day, do research on the various procedures, causes, meds, and nursing practices. The OR is a treasure-trove of learning, and it's up to you how much knowledge you can gather.
PACU would be great or ambulatory surgery to start working with some of the OR staff. Having worked in OR, you will need to be able to scrub in. Learning the instruments ahead of time is really helpful. Anesthesia takes care of the monitoring, half the time I was a grunt fetching supplies. My OR consortium sucked. Wish I took a scrub tech class in retrospect.
Several hospitals and surgery centers offer Perioperative Residency programs for new grads that allow new nurses to go right into the OR after they graduate. Nurses are paid while they go through the didactic and clinicals to learn all of the different functions of an OR RN. There is usually a two year commitment to the hospital or ASC after completing the program due to the investment that the hospital makes to educate nurses in this specialty. The formal programs usually last 6 months and then you continue orientation up to one year at the hospital that sponsors you in this program. Most of the programs us the AORN perioperative nursing program. It's alot easier to get into the OR these days without having to work on an alternative unit first! Good luck!
I'm a former inner city, high-risk L&D nurse working in areas covering: labor, intermediate care, antepartum/postpartum and OR/PACU. ORs need *organized*, flexible, calm-under-pressure nurses with foresight who know an OR like the back of their hand. Some patients are very routine and some can crash and become a crisis in moments. I juggled assisting surgeons, patient advocacy for mom/baby/partner, and documentation. If you have critical care skills or could start in a faster-paced unit, this will help you a great deal. Some hospitals will allow you to start in those units and put you through some rigorous training, but if not, start anywhere. I'm not sure an outpatient or physician/NP office will help you gather those kinds of skills, so try a medical or surgical ICU or L&D if you can get in there and can't find an opening in the OR. PACUs are great as well. You'll gain good hands-on skills as well as a better temperament for critical situations, which will look attractive to another unit you'd like to transfer to. Good luck!
1-2 years of Med-Surg usually requires but NYU Langone Hosp in NY hired me with only Nursing Home experience.
Look into surgery centers! Many of them will have you go through periop 101 online with a preceptor as you train on the job. Surgery centers generally don't pay as much, but you can get your foot in the door and may even be able to cross train in pre-op/pacu and make yourself more marketable.
I would not restrict yourself right out of nursing school into specialty. I would gain knowledge as a Med-Surg nurse first. You could go anywhere from there due to the wide array of patients you would be taking care of.
I would see if any hospitals or nursing schools in your area offer residency programs for OR nursing. Seems to be a trend I'm hearing about. I also would suggest a PACU position as you are physically closer to surgery and staff and managers will become familiar with your face!
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