@@ScolarshipBoy1984 So far, I do like it. I especially like the pace of some of the general surgeries. But there is no telling from day to day. Some days will be quicker than others. There is ALOT to take in. Anyone who thinks circulating is easy should try a day in an OR.
@@nelsonmartinez8673 i kinda dont like it but it rests my feet and mind as an original ER nurse...feels good not worring about codes or emergencys i mean it can happend.but usually everything is routine so i like it rather then doing a floor.
I just applied for a job in the OR and I'm scared I don't have that much experience I just got out of nurse school if they give me the opportunity to work with them it would be awesome since is an area that I'm interested but it would be a big change from Puerto Rico to United States that is why I'm a bit scared I don't want to fail anyone.
Hi Katy.. Congratulations!! How were you able to begin working in the OR as a recent grad? I'm definitely interested in OR and will graduate in about a year..but I thought some experience as a nurse would be required first? 🤷🏽♂️Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks !
I am glad to hear that you took an 8 month break from nursing before getting your first nursing job bc I am currently on month 5 of my break and sometimes I get overwhelmed thinking I’m falling behind my classmates, but this is reassuring to me that I am not and I will be okay!
Love the nursing videos! Missed these! I’m thinking of OR so I loved this! It would also be really cool if you had this PRO/CON type of video with other specialties too from your friends in other specialties!! Keep up all your videos I love it!!
Been a nurse for 17 yrs and worked in OR for 8 years..LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT..I was working OR at one hosp and ER at the hosp directly across the street at the same time..I always took other nurses calls because I Knew we wouldn't get called in😂😂😂..So much autonomy in the OR...esp the ER made me a better OR nurse..Great video
I love working as an RN in the OR. My hospital trains RNs to circulate and scrub so that’s definitely another pro depending on where you are working. I think you were spot on with everything you said and it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one thinking these things!
Thank you for uploading!! As a surg tech I completely understand when you talk about doctors being vulnerable; but at the same time, they couldn’t do what they do without a great team behind them 😊
Yay! I am a new OR nurse, my 1 year anniversary is coming up in a few days. I work at a trauma 1 teaching hospital in Utah and I love it( you probably know each one I am talking about 😉). I agree with most of your cons and pros. My call shift requirement is not that bad because it’s 4-5 shifts per month and half has to be first call, half second call and 50%wknd, the call shift is only 8 hours long but we only get paid $3/hour while we wait at home ($5 would be nice 😊). Since, we are a trauma 1, we are open 24/7 so we have 8, 10, and 12 hour shifts. Overall, I love our team but definitely have my favorite services, surgeons, and anesthesiologists. On our down time, I choose to help around the unit as well, it can be by helping the cna’s, nurses on very busy cases but checking their next case carts, getting drugs, giving bathroom breaks, and so on. I love working in the OR and close with our PACU and same day surgery nurses too. The OR is the best kept secret in the hospital in my opinion. P.S.: A major PRO for me is my guaranteed 45 mins lunch break, I love having that time to eat and to not worry about anything. 😉
oh my gosh!!!! hi love!! YES!! i agree with everything you said! I was definitely going to mention a guaranteed lunch but i totally forgot so thank you for pointing that out to everyone :) the lunch break is much appreciated, we only get 30 mins though... 45 would be a DREAM! I am so happy for you and sounds like you are loving your job which is so amazing! I do know which one you're talking about. ;) definitely the best kept secret in the hospital!! LOVE YOU! xoxo
Guaranteed lunch break?!?! That sounds amazing. I try to get a 20-30 minute lunch on my unit but some days I’m lucky to get a 5 min stuff my face lunch “break”.
Stacey Yuan yes, it’s a very nice pro of working in the OR. I remember during my clinical rotations in other units my preceptors barely had any time to eat or go to the bathroom.
This video was absolutely on time because today I found out I pass NCLEX and I’ll start my OR journey next month ❤️.. I am beyond excited.. thank you so much for this video and you look great ☺️
I actually did OR nursing for a year, and I felt like I was micro managed there then anywhere else that I've been. I agreed whole heartily with everything that you said, minus that part. OR nursing makes their money on their turnovers and how quickly they can bring their patients in, and I know it's SO dependent on where you are at, but I know my place was very focused on making sure that you hit all the times that you were supposed to be somewhere despite extenuating circumstances. I actually had someone get so mad at me, and tell my boss that I went over my lunch by a few minutes.
would you ever be interested in statistics/salary video? not specifically talking about your salary but if you personally think the payback is worth it for how expensive some nursing schools are + the amount of time you put into school.
ooh i really like that idea too! the short answer is yes - however I had scholarships and had money saved so that I came out with no loans. But the price of ANY schooling these days are ABSURD and that is definitely why I am reconsidering getting my nurse practitioner because I don't honestly know if it would be worth the money so that raise that I would get :/
Maddie Woods I completely agree! I know you went to a university as well like I am at rn and they definitely charge A LOT! Im surprised they won’t pay for you to go get your masters? I know some hospitals do out in Las Vegas but you do have to be under a contract !
New nurse here - currently working on the floor that I precepted on but have been drawn to the OR ever since our one-off shadowing during school. I am SO DISCOURAGED with floor nursing and I'm hoping to get into the OR when I'm eligible for transfer. Thank you for sharing your experience. It gives me hope.
i needed to watch this video. I have been pressured to work on other units and have been told to not start my career in the OR. After watching this, i won't settle for what i dont want.
12 year OR nurse here 😊 my hospital trains all the circulators in the scrub role so that has been a wonderful challenge that has kept me growing. I recently came back after three years off and have had the opportunity to really grow my skills in the scrub role and I’ve loved it. 😊 thanks for your video
When I had my OR clinical rotation I immediately decided that it was not for me. It felt stressful, some surgeons have major attitudes so u have to adjust and still do your job professionally. It felt also intense because you had to know names of tools, what they use especially if you're circulating. Not to ruin that sterile field... lol I'm an ICU nurse and I don't know how I'd feel if I didn't use clinical judgement every shift, there's a lot of brain I use every day and working with our docs feels more like we are in a team and I'm not a runner for them. But again, power to you OR nurses, you kick butt and that's a lot of hard work!!
I start nursing school in the Fall (2020, yay!) as a second bachelors. I was deciding between PA school and nursing but nursing was the most feasible route for my family and I. I originally wanted to do PA because of the OR experience that is offered but once I found out that nursing could also do OR and/or first assistant programs, nursing was the obvious answer! This is my ultimate goal so I plan to work my butt off these next two year to try and secure a position in the OR! Wish me luck !!
Fellow TCU OR nurse here! All I’ve done is OR since graduating 15 years ago, but I’ve been doing travel OR nursing for 13 years. It’s so refreshing to see young nurses coming into the specialty! (I feel you on losing the “typical” nursing skills, if I ever want to transition out of the suites, I’m gonna need another externship!) Thanks for making the video, OR nursing is such a weird animal compared to other areas of nursing.😷
I'm a new grad, start in the OR in a little less than a month. I'm absolutely terrified LOL! I'm excited to finally be a nurse but I think the doctors are what I'm most afraid of. I hope I do love it, the work/life balance I think will be super great lol.
Watching this in the airport... flying to CO to interview for a nurse residency position!! My nursing program gave us one day to shadow in the OR and I loved it but the ER has always been my dream! Thanks for sharing and always being so positive!
Type A personality, someone who likes working as a team, someone who can advocate for patient after the patient goes under, many docs and surgeons like witty banter, and someone who can remember details/personalities of different providers
Currently an ER nurse! Thinking about eventually going to the OR. Loved the environment when I did my rotation there. But not quite ready to leave my chaos in the ER. Awesome video!
I found your channel because I’m a prospective nurse, taking prerequisites this coming Fall (First year out of high school) and I love the diversity of your channel❤️ You’re my favourite youtuber:)
I graduate nursing school this July and have a job waiting for me as an OR NURSE so I am so glad you posted this video! I am actually doing my preceptorship in the OR now and I absolutely love it!
I started my “new to OR” program in February! Your video is super accurate! It almost like we work at the same hospital 😂 Good job! The only thing is I came from a step down unit where I had to chart 3 FULL BODY assessments on all 3 of my patients EVERY 4 HOURS!! So I feel like OR charting is like nothing haha!!
Thanks for adding new nursing/RN content. I'm an aspiring RN, who has nothing but the absolutely highest respect for this profession. You rock!. OR nurses do so much 'behind the scenes', IMHO.
Maddie I love your nursing videos!💗 I’ve been watching you for a couple month and you give me so much motivation for my nursing career. I‘m from Germany & a RN working on ICU and it’s great to hear about so many different work routines.
Loved this, super interesting! I may be partial because my sister is an ER nurse but I love nurses and think they are the heart of the hospital 💕 keep up the great work!!
I did 12 hour shifts as a designated transplant nurse in the OR. We also had 24-hour, in-house call. But that was in the late 80s and early 90s when we did 400 transplants a year.
AlyssaAllDay I think it just honestly depends on what you want to get out of nursing. I, personally, wanted to take care of patients. OR nursing you don’t take care of patients you take care of surgeons. Anesthesia takes care of the patient. The OR nurse is getting equipment or supplies for the procedure.
Super interesting video. I’m a CVOR RN and it’s interesting to hear how your hospital differs from mine. I work at a large teaching hospital in a major city and I must say my experience is super different than what you talked about. It’s definitely a different experience depending on the hospital.
Hi Baylie! Congratulations on your residency acceptance!! I'm really interested in wanting to do am OR residency program. Can you share some information about your residency program please🙏. How long is the program, is it paid, how's application process, is it also in Colorado? Thank you much!!
I'm returning to the OR after 14 years out for a baby career break...brings back many memories and what I am going back to face too, forgot how these high pressure snaps could hurt, but feel more prepared in my late 30s than in my early 20s!
Really hoping there’s an OR position open for my capstone next semester! I’d really like to work there and I feel like that’d be a good introduction before I start working. 💛
Completely agree! Working in a bigger OR the only downside is once you are done with your initial assignment you are immediately put in a different room to fill holes where they are short staffed for the day. But we also have specialties. I personally enjoy ortho and intend on joining the ortho team when I graduate this December from my nursing program. Have you thought about travel circulating? they make amazing money (especially CVOR ) and have anywhere from 8-16 week contracts!
Love your nursing videos! I am applying to medicine and was wondering from a nurses perspective what nurse-doctor relationships are generally like? Everyone says surgeons can be super condescending to both nurses and medical students during their residencies and I don't want to go into a career where there is a lot of tension between colleagues xx
Would you be able to speak about what a typical day in OR nursing is? Also giving recommendations on how to get into the OR after graduating? I currently work as a pct on a med surg floor and I know when I finish nursing school I want to go straight to OR
I REEEEEALLY want to do every aspect of Perioperative...but it seems like in order to be considered to work in PACU it requires Critical care experience and most circulators dont cross train into preop and vice versa
Loved this video! I just applied into the OR program for my final practicum and was really struggling with whether or not it was the right choice for me because OR nursing is so different from what we learn in school! This video helped a lot, thank you
Sophie I am so glad that this video helped!! thank you so much for watching and congrats on applying to the OR for your practicum!! i hope you LOVE it!
I start my graduate program in February in the OR!! Some people around me are saying it's a 'dead end', and I totally disagree. I'm so pumped! Thank you for this video
I am an RN at a busy trauma center..... it is crazy how different centers can be. We have no downtime.... 6 people working weekend days, 3 evenings, and 3 nights... and two more on call at all times!!😂😂
Wow!!! I’m a CRNA at a trauma center, but not that busy. Working 4th of July and have one RN/tech on and they have call people. Anesthesia in house 24 hours.
Would you say that it would be difficult to go from OR nursing as a new grad to later a floor/ER nurse? Do hospitals get turned off by the fact that you’ve lost skills as an OR nurse?
I did a program similar to you where I got my CNA and I was able to shadow for a month at an ambulatory surgery center and absolutely loved it and am pretty sure I am going to be an OR nurse once I graduate and pass the NCLEX
Hi! I’m in nursing school. Thanks for the video! Do you have to stand your entire shift? Are you allowed to wear nail polish to work? Do you scrub in for the surgeries or is circulating nurse different than scrub nurse? Thanks!
So, depending on how busy your list is will depend on how much sitting down you can do really, and the role you're undertaking. So, for an example you could be scrubbed for a few hours, or simply half an hour. You could be stood up i.e. keyhole (laparoscopic surgery) or you could be sat down (like in carpel tunnel surgery). In a lot of laparoscopic surgery, as the circulator you can sometimes get time to sit down too. PACU (post anaesthetic care unit) practitioners, get to sit down, at least, we do. Typically when I'm in recovery, I won't sit down until the patient has regained full airway control, and has no adjuncts (be it an LMA/iGel or a guedel) in situ, as well as breathing by themselves. Nail varnish is a big nooooope. It can chip off, and potentially cause a reservoir of infection. In my own experiences, scrub nurses and circulating nurses are one in the same, it is more the individual role they are undertaking at that moment. A scrub nurse is the one who is scrubbed at the table, handling and providing some basic assistance to the surgeon. A circulating nurse is not sterile, and provides support to the sterile team. Opening more swabs, adjusting lights, adjusting gas pressures for laparoscopic surgery. Typically, you'll scrub for one case and the next case you'll circulate.
I'm in nursing school and have always be interested in OR nursing! Next semester we have the opportunity to be in the OR and I'm so excited. I've always been curious about what it entails on the day to day, so this video was great!
Thank you for making this video!! I loved it! I want to do OR nursing after i graduate from nursing school and pass my NCLEX and find videos like these helpful. Love you Maddie 💕
woohoo! missed these nursing vids girlie (but love your other content too)! I want to desperately do per diem in the OR but for CRNA school I need to stick to ICU only. smh its so tempting!
Surgical First Assistant here. 😉 Right now I’m working on my RN degree. Initially I planned to jump back into the OR after I get my RN but now I’m realizing how I won’t be using much skills from nursing school. 🙁 I really think I’m going to work the floor for a few years first then go back to the OR and circulate and scrub when needed.
Hi Maddie, I would love to see how your role works with the Surgical Techs in the OR! I haven’t seen any content where both roles work with one another! I’m currently in school for the Surgical Technology program and I’m soaking all OR content in like a sponge! 😉
I am very much detail oriented. How is the orientation and training for the OR? One of my biggest fears is that I will be in a room and I won't know how to use a piece of equipment, etc. I haven't had great experiences with orientation in the past.
Thank you so much! I am currently looking for a OR position. I am going to a Jon fair tomorrow fingers crossed. That would be my first nursing job! Pray for me guys!
Yayaya for Maddie for putting more nursing content! The reason I followed you to begin with! So jelly of you working in the OR, wish I could be there. The floor sucks! Would you want to ever work in a different area?
Yay!!!! So excited to see this video in my subscription box. Thank you so much for sharing some more insight! Looking forward to seeing some more nursing videos 😁👍🙌
Thanks for this informative video! You explained it very well and you may have given me another portion of nursing that I would like to try once I’m done with school. Look forward to more content!
omg thank gosh I found you. Im currenly a med-surg nurse and I'm thinking about doing a shadow shift in OR nursing. eeks, I want to pursue either PACU or OR but im nervous about losing my knowledge and skills in other nursing areas. thanks for your thoughts and opinions (:
Do you have any tips for dealing with angry and mean surgeons? I start an OR program soon and this is my number one fear. Also how do you know what is needed for every procedure. Seems like it would be impossible to remember.
Currently a medical/oncology nurse. Moving hopefully in the next month and I’m applying to OR and Same Day Surgery. So far the OR seems hard to get into without any experience. Any tips?
Love your videos! Applying for nursing schools and clinical jobs now so these are so helpful💕 also your skin and hair are sooo healthy looking you should do a tips and tricks video!
I’m a l&d nurse. I get to experience both sides (bedside and circulate my OR ). We do bedside w vaginal deliveries and circulate our own csections at my hospital. I’ve definitely thought about becoming a full time OR nurse but would miss the pt interaction. Thanks for the video xoxo
I've recently decided I want to attend nursing school and after discovering your videos I've realized that O.R. nursing might be something I'm interested in. What is the process of becoming an O.R. nurse? Is it the same as anything else? Just applying for that position? Or do you need additional credentials/training?
I work in the Cardiac Cath Lab and I’ve been thinking about transferring to the OR. I work 4 10s too and take call. We get time & a half if we’re called in and we automatically get paid 4 hours.
Hello, I'm a new subscriber. I am really interested in doing the OR, but my capstone is in the ER. My ultimate goal is to work in the Cath Lab. Will OR experience help with that?
What do you mean? Theres a lot of charting in nursing period. There is also cardiac surgery certification and other certifications besides CNOR in the OR environment
Taylor Stelzer I love love love our X-ray techs :) nothing really to complain about other than doctors yelling if the X-ray tech is on their phone and not hearing the doctor say “shot” lol
Most often the c-arm techs can either be a blessing or a curse--depending on the tech and THEIR management. Circulating nurses--like surgeons and techs develop a sequence of events to help and maintain the progression of the room. When I call for a c-arm I expect that tech to be in the room assisting my scrub tech in draping the arm within 10 minutes of my call. Yes, circulating nurses understand that X-ray techs are bombarded with requests throughout the hospital--and your supervisors are dispatching you where needed. HOWEVER--the OR is a priority run because the patient is under anesthesia and although you may be standing next to a fully draped c-arm with nothing happening because the surgeon isn’t in the room-if you leave, you can just count on it--surgeon arrives moments after you leave and is throwing a catastrophic fit demanding--“where’s X-ray??? I’ll be in the lounge when they show up--call me
Thanks for the video! I'm a senior about to start my preceptorship and was interested in this area- i think they will place me in a post op surgical floor since the hospitals aren't letting students in for preceptorship to OR or ER
