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Experienced OR nurse reveals which traits are best for perioperative nurses to possess for a successful career.
By Linda Childers
Marty Higgins, MS, RN, NE-BC, director of surgical services at The Medical Center of Plano, Texas, said working in the OR is one of nursing’s best-kept secrets. After graduating from nursing school, Higgins worked in labor and delivery before transitioning into a career as an OR nurse. In this Q&A, Higgins offers advice for nurses who are considering a career in perioperative nursing.
Q Can you describe the traits/characteristics of a nurse who is successful and working in the preop
and OR settings?
A: Perioperative nursing is a specialty area where nurses assist patients before, during and after surgery. Yet nurses who work in preop, the OR and postop have three very distinct roles and each job attracts candidates with different personalities and skill sets. Nurses who work in preop should enjoy working at an energetic
and fast pace. T ey need to be organized and very detail-oriented, because they are gathering a lot of data in a short amount of time, and they also need to be calming and not let patients feel as though they are being rushed. In the OR, nurses take on more of an Energizer Bunny type of role.
T ey need to have good time management skills and be critical thinkers. Working in the OR isn’t for everyone. Nurses can be exposed to stressful situations, and often tensions run high among staff . As an OR nurse, you’re working with three to fi ve other colleagues
for hours at a time, so nurses need to feel comfortable working as part of a team, but also confi dent enough to do their job independently.
Q What skills do nurses need to be effective in a postop setting?
A: Nurses need to have good assessment skills and be able to make decisions quickly if a patient’s status changes. A big part of the job is monitoring patients after they awake from anesthesia and watching for signs of pain, nausea or other symptoms that might occur as a result of surgery.
Q How can nurses investigate the three settings to determine if one might be right for them?
A: We’ve had nurses who work in other departments and are inter- ested in learning about this specialty area ask if they can come down and do an informational interview or shadow a perioperative nurse.
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Q What words of wisdom do you have for nurses who are interested in transitioning to the periop setting?
A: When I’m hiring nurses, I look for candidates who are high energy, have good people skills and a great attitude, and are looking for a challenge. I had one candidate tell me that working as a perioperative nurse was her dream job and she explained why. I loved her enthusiasm. Another candidate told me she guessed she could work in the OR, but this isn’t the kind of specialty area that you can be halfhearted about. Once nurses work in the fi eld for two years, I encourage them to look
into CNOR certifi cation for perioperative nurses interested in enhancing and validating their specialized knowledge and skills.
Q What are some of the reasons nurses choose to stay in perioperative nursing and what are the reasons
they choose to leave?
A: Most of the nurses I know who work in this field never leave. T ey stay because they love the fast pace, and the fact that no two days are the same. In one shift, you have multiple patients facing diff erent sur- geries, and it can be gratifying to see someone come in to surgery with an orthopedic injury or to have their gallbladder removed and know after the surgery they will heal and go on to live their lives. Nurses also choose to stay because it’s a specialty area in which they
really become close with their team members and they enjoy the cama- raderie. In addition, this specialty area off ers a lot of fl exibility. Many nurses opt to work in a surgical center where they can have weekends off . At the hospital, I need staff to work 24/7. So I can be fl exible with their schedules, if they want to leave early to pick their kids up from school or if they prefer to work nights and weekends. T ere’s also a lot of opportunities for growth in this specialty area.
Nurses can be promoted to charge nurses, team leads or nurse managers/ supervisors. I’ve seen very few nurses leave this specialty, and for those who do, it’s just not the right fi t. •
Linda Childers is a freelance writer.
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