Nursing is a crucial career, especially as an operating room nurse. An OR nurse specializes in taking care of patients undergoing surgery. This field requires not only technical skills but also commitment. A slight mistake caused due to carelessness would lead to loss of life, and therefore OR nurses are required to employ strong understanding skills in their career. However, this field has numerous advantages and disadvantages.
Pros of being an operating room nurse
1. High salary: OR nursing is one of the best-paying careers today. Skilled OR can secure enough money at the end to satisfy them and their families. Additionally, they are likely to receive gifts from a patient who recovers under there because of their good job arms.
2. A limited number of patients: Unlike other nurses who attend to any patient simultaneously, OR nurses benefit, as they only have to see one patient at a time. It reduces the pressure of their work and improves the interaction with the patient. Due to fewer attendants, surgical mistakes and other lab errors are minimized.
3. Fewer working hours: OR nurses’ working hours are lower compared to that of other nurses. Therefore, most of the time they are idle, which helps them relax. Their hand is only needed when there is surgery going on.
4. Work shift: Work shift is common practice with OR Nurses. To increase the productivity of the surgery process, OR nurses are allowed to work in shifts, which helps them relax. Operating Room nurses can work for only less than 10 hours a day instead of other nurses who can work up to 20 hours in a day.
5. Working environment: The working environment in all professions determines the number of energy employees lose in a day. With OR nurses, they are the working environment. It is small, and therefore they do not lose a lot of energy. The OR nurses can only move around the surgical room, which makes this profession better than any other. Other nurses move from one ward to another, making the tire easily.
6. Flexibility: OR nurses benefits from the flexibility of their work. They can easily change their working environment when the need arises. If there are few surgical works, OR nurses can turn to other nurse-related works within the hospital. It saves them from losing their jobs when there is a low demand for OR nurses.
7. Improving your skills: While working as a nurse, you can increase your skills. Surgery involves the opening of body parts, and therefore the viewers (OR nurses and surgeons) can see the internal parts. It adds to their skills and knowledge about the human body.
8. Increase salary and ranking: There are few OR nurses, and therefore if you are working as an OR nurse are easily identified. After a short working period, you can be promoted to senior OR nurse. An increase in responsibility means an increase in salary to OR nurses.
9. Lifesaving job: Surgery is usually classified as a lifesaving job. It is because if the surgery is successful, the patient’s lifespan is increased. By saving people’s life, OR nurses are happy people.
10. Teamwork: Unlike other fields, the Surgical process greatly employees teamwork among workers. Teamwork promotes co-operation and good productivity.
11. Affordable outfit: OR nurses do not suffer the extra cost of purchasing expensive clothes to please their clients. Affordable clothes and shoes are their taste. In addition, the type of shoes should be flat to avoid accidents. It saves nurses from expensive high-heeled shoes.
Cons of being an operating room nurse
1. Effect on the brain: The OR career requires tough people who are able and ready to endure anything going on in the surgical room. Many of the OR nurses suffer from mental and emotional taxing. Therefore, it affects the state of their mind.
2. Operation room accidents: The OR nurses are exposed to accidents compared to nurses. They handle sharp tools and equipment with strong cancerous rays. These tools would, in turn, cause accidents to nurses if they are not careful when handling them.
3. Few OR nurses: the number of OR nurses may be smaller than that of the patient in most hospitals. It causes pressure on the available nurses to work for longer hours than normal.
4. Long working hours: Sometimes, the surgery can last for a long time. During this time, the nurses are required to be around the surgeons. They may work for long hours without having to relax. It is one of the great challenges experienced by OR nurses.
5. Training time: Before you are recognized as an OR nurse, you have to undergo a long training process. The training process is lengthy and requires a lot of money which may not be readily available. Similarly, before your OR certification is complete, you have to work as an OR nurse in a hospital for a specified duration of time.
6. Tight schedules: The working program of OR nurses is unpredictable. During surgery peak times, OF nurses have tight schedules. Their sleeping hours and time to meet their friends reduce. The complication caused during the surgery may also make OR nurses extend their working hours.
7. Scaring working environment: Working in the operation room is one of the deadliest jobs in the hospital. The Operation Room nurses sometimes experience patients breathing in their last breath.
8. Causes stress: Nurses are likely to be affected by stress. If you are an emotional person, working as an operating room nurse is not good for you. Activities that occur inside the surgery room are likely to cause stress. In addition, nurses have limited time to socialize with other outsiders; this loneliness makes them suffer from stress and other mental disorders.
9. Physically Demanding: The job requires a lot of human effort to be successful. The OR nurse may find themselves spending many hours standing or moving around the surgical room.
