I have just celebrated my first anniversary as an OR nurse (first nursing job) but am currently on sick leave for 2 weeks because of stress related anxiety.
I am basically depressed with the attitudes I see in some collegues. There is the "in" group of nurses whom have been there for years and years and of which I am not part of. Their days consists of gossip, shrugging off work and disappearing when OR needs cleaning, leaving all hard work to new staff. Unfortunately the manager also belongs to the "in" group so not much help there! I am totally frustrated, any suggestions as to how to deal with this?
Hi nubes welcome to the forums. Sorry to hear you're not feeling well. You really pose an interesting question, however we really need some more information to get an accurate picture of your situation.
1. Male or female
2. Age 18-34 or 35-50
3. Location: Small, Medium or Large city
4. Facility: Teaching center, suburban medical center with or without trauma, local community hospital.
I think we'll leave it at that for now.
O_S
1. Female
2. 35-50
3. medium city (UK)
4. teaching center without trauma, all elective orthopaedic procedures.
Maybe I am just hoping for an ideal world in an imperfect job. Perhaps my expectations are too high. Perhaps it is a cultural problem, as I am not from UK. Thanks for posting a reply. I have decided I love OR and will not let my career be sabotaged by this. So I will hang in until I have another years experience and then I will move on.
I made up my mind in 1999 after completing a 6 month Perioperative program for RNs and subsequently working as an OR Circulator for 8 months that I would NEVER step foot in another OR again! It just isn't for everyone - this is probably going to ruffle some feathers but, I determined that I was too nice of a personality to deal with the huge defensive attitudes of most OR RNs!! One of my RN preceptors was a 20 year veteran of the OR and she actually reported breast tissue removed during a reduction in cc's rather than grams! When I brought it to her attention, she informed me that cc's and gms were the same thing!!!! :confused: Sounded like she needed some refresher courses!! Not to mention the crap that a circulator must go through with the surgeons! I will NEVER forget losing count after 47--yes that's right--47 trips out of the room to get something that the plastic surgeon changed his mind about during the case--a chimpanzee could be trained to be a Circulator in my opinion!!! I transferred to an OP Surgicenter PACU and knew I had found my niche.
Old_School wrote:Hi nubes welcome to the forums. Sorry to hear you're not feeling well. You really pose an interesting question, however we really need some more information to get an accurate picture of your situation.
1. Male or female
2. Age 18-34 or 35-50
3. Location: Small, Medium or Large city
4. Facility: Teaching center, suburban medical center with or without trauma, local community hospital.
I think we'll leave it at that for now.
O_S
* I realize this is an old post...
What difference does it make if the OP is male or female?
BlueDevilRN1 wrote:I made up my mind in 1999 after completing a 6 month Perioperative program for RNs and subsequently working as an OR Circulator for 8 months that I would NEVER step foot in another OR again! It just isn't for everyone - this is probably going to ruffle some feathers but, I determined that I was too nice of a personality to deal with the huge defensive attitudes of most OR RNs!! One of my RN preceptors was a 20 year veteran of the OR and she actually reported breast tissue removed during a reduction in cc's rather than grams! When I brought it to her attention, she informed me that cc's and gms were the same thing!!!! :confused: Sounded like she needed some refresher courses!! Not to mention the crap that a circulator must go through with the surgeons! I will NEVER forget losing count after 47--yes that's right--47 trips out of the room to get something that the plastic surgeon changed his mind about during the case--a chimpanzee could be trained to be a Circulator in my opinion!!! I transferred to an OP Surgicenter PACU and knew I had found my niche.
I will NEVER go back to the Circulator Role!
I worked as a CST from 1995-1998. Upon completing ADN program worked on Telemetry Floor for about 14 months, then went to a 10-bed ICU for about 18 months. I thought I missed the OR environment. So, I went back to the OR for about 4 years. Plus, worked in the ICU as a Reserve Army Nurse. It got to the point that the only good day was when I got to scrub in, otherwise I dreaded going to work in the OR. Working in the ICU on my Army Reserve weekends, and two weeks during the year made me hungry to do both on a full-time basis. I decided to go active duty Regular Army. I now specialize in critical care nursing in the Army Nurse Corps.
IMHO, the OR Circulator position could be filled by a CST. The only way I would ever go back to the OR is in the scrub role. No disrespect intended to those OR Circulators on UltimateNurses.
I have recently experienced a very similar situation. I have never been one to be in the "in" group. We recently had several staff changes in the OR and the staff became very "clicky" My bosses also "clicked" very well. I could not hang in there as well as you are. I resigned with some "unclicky" conversations on my way out the door. I have chosen to start traveling to get away from the political environment as well as all the "clickiness". I went into nursing to care for my patients and their families not to be placed in an adolescent popularity contest. I am looking forward to being able to enjoy the accquaintences I will meet and the ability to do my job in peace for each 13weeks I am there. I feel that when you work in an OR for a long period of time the political aspects are unavoidable. I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone.
While i love what i do, the high school BS "groups" crap gets old.
I am a part of a "clique" in our or. I believe it is a matter of survival in my workplace to have friends - any friends - to make it. They are the only people who have concern for my welfare, sanity, need for a break, extra hand to help set up...etc.
It really is a management problem. They don't require staff to help each other out, or give breaks - so the only people to depend on are the friends - or clique members, if that is what you want to call them. Cliques can be TEAMS with TEAMWORK the right management...
or-nery wrote:I am a part of a "clique" in our or. I believe it is a matter of survival in my workplace to have friends - any friends - to make it. They are the only people who have concern for my welfare, sanity, need for a break, extra hand to help set up...etc.
It really is a management problem. They don't require staff to help each other out, or give breaks - so the only people to depend on are the friends - or clique members, if that is what you want to call them. Cliques can be TEAMS with TEAMWORK the right management...
I agreee with you about needing allies in the field. But after a while, kissing everyone's butt gets old. I like working. I feel good when I do a good job and things run smoothly. I'm not much of a socializer while working because I get distracted and make mistakes. The biggest problem that I have is that people tend to make-up "policy" based on what they like. They also tend to like to get riled up over issues that can be easily solved by checking the chart, rather than paging the doctor for every darn thing. Oh, and the anesthesia personnel... I remember when I worked ICU and how high strung those nurses were. Well, those same high strung control freaks have a regular tendency of giving my patient versed prior to me interviewing them. I also get lots of "help" from my co-workers. They come into my room and take over my tasks or socialize. Both of these activities distract me and aren't helpful at all. I absolutely love my work, but am beginning to believe that nursing isn't for me. I've worked in several environments. But I wouldn't want to work any one of them full-time because people are less than kind. I have read a bit on the subject and many psychologists point to the female dynamic. It's an environment full of bullying. They say that they see this environment replicated in teaching and other female dominated professions. I'm thinking of getting into engineering. I love the technical analytical aspects of nursing. But the social structure is for the birds.
or-nery wrote:I am a part of a "clique" in our or. I believe it is a matter of survival in my workplace to have friends - any friends - to make it. They are the only people who have concern for my welfare, sanity, need for a break, extra hand to help set up...etc.
It really is a management problem. They don't require staff to help each other out, or give breaks - so the only people to depend on are the friends - or clique members, if that is what you want to call them. Cliques can be TEAMS with TEAMWORK the right management...
No one should ever have to be in a clique to survive in their job. Cliques really do not help the problem you're speaking of, it really serves to aggravate it, because eventually, the work environment will just get worse.
