Sharing Your Stories and Advice

During your perioperative career, it is likely that you will encounter many situations that will challenge your surgical conscience.

As a perioperative nurse, you can mentally put yourself into a situation and think, “What would I have done?”

Take care of yourself when going through loss: participate in debriefs, talk with a friend or therapist, take a break, and learn what you can to keep growing.

With The Stitch, our hope was that novice nurses would have a supportive community to turn to for advice, tips and tricks, and new learning opportunities to bridge the knowledge-to-practice gap.

Resources may be strained, but this is a time for resourcefulness and teamwork.

One nurse talks about advocating for a patient on his family's behalf.

Homework involves collecting the correct supplies and instruments for a case, knowing the basics of the type of surgery to be performed, and preparing for the “what ifs.”

Take some time to reflect and discover what it is that motivates you. Dig deep and find your purpose. And answer this question for yourself, “Why do I work in the OR?”