It's been nearly 9 months since my last post. What I have learned early on from going to nursing school straight to the Operating Room as a RN is to basically forget everything learn in nursing school because working in the OR to me felt like I was on another planet because barely from the OR is taught in school.
As a new nurse in the beginning it was very difficult for me to grasp onto everything. Some days I felt like I was on top of the world and other days I was ready to change specialties which might happen one day in the future but I really appreciate having one patient at a time. It's been a year since I graduated from nursing school. This time last year I actually spent a couple weeks for myself to enjoy the company of others before I started work as a Nurse Tech and preparing for the NCLEX.
When entering the workforce my advice is build rapport with co-workers, build trust, depend on each other and work as a team, no one can do it all alone especially in the healthcare environment. At the facility I work there aren't official preceptors. My orientation felt merely a month or two as a nurse since I first arrived as a student nurse, then a nurse tech. During orientation I rotated through the specialties and learned from all the nurses on the unit. I picked up some good habits and some not so good habits that are hard to break. Each specialty at work is divided into teams. There is a team of staff who mostly work with hearts, team that works mostly with general surgery, other team with gyn and urology, ortho/neuro team, and a eyes, ears, nose, throat and plastic surgery (which I am a part of). What helps me the most as I am still working to be a strong circulator is my team leader who gets stuff done and loves teaching (not everyone can be this lucky) and my surgical technologist on my team who are all very seasoned and can practically do my job for me. They are there to cheer me on and help me correct mistakes and misunderstandings.
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