Theatre Nurse

[Studentnursesos12e]

Hi,

Basically, I’m a (nearly) end of second year student nurse. I’ve had quite a few placements - NH, day unit, med and surg wards, recovery and theatre (only 3 weeks though).

Can anyone advise me on theatre nursing, especially from being newly qualified. Also on the theatre nurse/ODP dynamic. Looking at some jobs, it’s seems nurses can be trained in the anaesthetics side of it. My other question is do theatre nurses commonly work nights, or is it usually only if on call.

If I want to pursue theatre I can choose my final 4 month placement to be in theatres, which would definitely show whether it was for me or not. So far, I’m drawn to it as have always been interested in surgery, enjoy the practically skilled side of nursing and enjoyed my theatre (and recovery/surgical ward) placements. I also want to work in a highly specialised area.

Apologies for the essay. Any advice appreciated.

Thanks xx

Hi

I am an ODP but I would definitely recommend theatres. It's a really interesting job.

Yes there probably would be nights involved unless you went to a day surgery unit or similar.

I work in a DGH and nights are busy.

Forgot I’d even posted this. Thanks for replying. Interestingly I am now 8 weeks from qualifying as a nurse, working in icu currently and will work in icu when I qualified. Just goes to show how interests can change !

Congratulations on your ICU role!