I am a new grad nurse. 7 months on a medical/surgical observation/PCU floor. Interested in switching to pre op or OR. Can anyone share opinions on pre op or OR nursing

OR nursing is incredible. It is on the job training and very satisfying. The nurse is the patients advocate. You are in charge of your room and make sure the patient is safe ,and the surgeon has everything he needs.
Sterile technique is a must. I have been in the OR for 49 years and everyday is exciting and different.

I guess l should state l am in my 47th year now and l have worked many areas of the hospital. Some days wondering why l am a nurse and many days loving everything l do. Where has the time gone. We need great nurses and they come from hard work, endurance and good mentors. Let's mentor all our new nurses. Nursing is an honorable profession.

I’ve never worked in OR. I did do pre-op and PACU. It depends if it’s a hospital or free standing surgery center. With pre-op you review the patient medical history thoroughly. Make sure everything that’s ordered is there and WNL. Anyway out of range notify the anesthesiologist. If anything is missing again, notify the anesthesiologist. One time during my actual physical assessment of this patient she had a positive homans sign, I called the anesthesiologist he ordered an US and a DVT was seen. Surgery canceled. Had I not done my physical assessment and knew what a homans sign was and notified the doctor, it could have cost the person life and my license. Sometimes we forget the legality that comes with our profession while staying in our scope of practice.

If you choose OR, then you would have to do a nurse internship and shadow under an experienced nurse. It takes years to really perfect the skills needed for OR. PREOP might be a good start for you. Some places require that you learn both PREOP and PACU. Learn the PREOP first. You could also learn how to do PRE-Admission Testing. This is where you interview patients having surgery, draw their labs, do the EKG, and work with the surgeons and their office staff as well as the anesthesiologist. Good Luck .

Regardless of what unit you work, nursing is hard work. As a new nurse l would suggest working in the med surg for a minimum of 5-8 years as this is the the greatest gift you can give yourself for learning life's experience's and the ability to be a phenomenal nurse and over time move into a specialty area. It is hard to stand back when you feel the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.