OR Experience - Hip nailing

Today’s experience brought about a whole new thought process for me. I truly feel like to be a nurse is a calling. I had thought that that sense of serving and compassion could only be achieved through bedside nursing. I struggled with the thoughts that I really did enjoy my OR experience and would seriously consider learning more about the OR environment. The struggle came because I wondered if I could serve the patient and show compassion in that position. I believe that the operation is certainly a service that the patient requires and I believe that an OR nurse can still advocate for the patient (i.e.: positioning of patient in OR, making sure they are comfortable). What interests me in the OR is the challenge it seems to present. I have always enjoyed watching the “surgery shows” on television and it was even better live! I certainly know that bedside nurses are intellectually challenged every day, but I can see that OR nurses are intellectually challenged in a different way. I have a lot of thinking to do, but I still have plenty of time. I might change my mind several times before graduation. I am going to keep myself open.
One option is to do critical care nursing. It seems like it might be a combination of the two roles of perioperative type thinking and bedside nursing. My husband went into renal failure August 20 of this year and was in the ICU for three days. Spending so much time there peeked my interest as well. I hope I will get the opportunity to shadow a ICU nurse to experience what they experience.