Anyone on here a THEATRE NURSE ? Can you spare me 5 minutes, please ?

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So my career-saga goes on... I'm absolutely set on an NHS/medical related career. I have thought about nursing and I'm keen to pursue it further. However, the list of possible disciplines seems endless !

I am keen to find out more about Theatre nursing. I know as a nurse you have a large amount of training and skill at your fingertips, yet whenever I see theatre nurses on the tv (both in dramas and in documentaries) they don't really appear to do much, aside from passing the tool requested by the surgeon. I can't help thinking that this must be a huge misrepresentation of the role. What does it involve, really ? In real life ?

How would I get into it ? Would it be via Adult Nursing and then do a specialist Theatre top up type thing ? Is there a difference between Adult Theatre Nurses and Paedatric Theatre Nurses or is it one discipline ?

Sorry if I sound ignorant, I just don't know enough about this area of nursing.

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heres some info about it

Thanks furball. Are you a nurse yourself ?

no, just bored!

lol

Theres also an ODP (Operational Department Practioner) that works in theatre. Its a two year university \link{http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/Faculties/Health/ODP/docs/Role_of_ODPractitioner.ppt#256,1,The Role Of The Operating Department Practitioner\course}

oops will have \link{http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/Faculties/Health/ODP/docs/Role_of_ODPractitioner.ppt#256,1,TheRoleOf The Operating DepartmentPractitionerther\another go}

No such luck if you type in edge hill and then operation department practioner you should get some info

ndp you would have to do your adult nurse training and then get a job in theatre

simple as that

and easy enough to get a job

training is 3 years

theatre nurses also work in recovery, which i think is a bit more interesting (ive never worked in theatre, not even as a student)

they dont just pass instruments, but its a lot different to ward nursing, very specialised

opd's are very highly skilled, you may prefer to do that

(are you sure you want to be a nurse? ive just ditched it all in after a 13 year career as it was sooo shite, but everyone is different. i just couldnt take another day)

I have a couple of friends who are ODAs. One thing to bear in mind as a mum is that hours can be long - sometimes operations over-run and you may have to do on-calls and go in for emergencies.

Thanks for this nailpolish, it sounds like an area I'd be interested in. I like the idea of being more specialised. Nursing is such a varied field, it's amazing really.

sally, you go into a theatre job the same as any other job in nursing! its not any more skilled than other specialities..

My cousin was a theater sister, and ended up running a day case surgery ward. The nurses were rsponsible for preping the patients (including claming them down, answering questions etc), assisting with the surgery and doing the post op care. She did both adult and chld day case surgery. All high powered stuff

np, i guess you can never be sure of what you want to do. The only to know if you've made the right decision is to try it.

the key to halfway to enjoying nursing is to get a speciality

theatre nurses are always sought after, getting a job would not be a problem, its the training that is hard

and remember there are a million different kinds of theatre, to stripping varicose veins to heart and lung transplants!!

oops sally, didnt mean to sound harsh

Not sure OPD is the right way to go for me. I think a broader nursing qualification would be more suitable and offer me a broader range of opportunities

ndp the other good thing about nursing is its really a job for life and you can feel pretty secure

and they have a great pension

being a mum and a nurse can be good cos you can work full time over 3 days, and do things like weekends and nightshift, i found it very flexible

now im getting all sentimental and missing the damn nursing thing again...

i hope that will be the case, np. Do you miss the clinical aspect of your job at all ? By that I mean everything other than the ward politics .