Operating Room Nursing Careers
The Operating Room at BC Children’s Hospital includes a wide range of specialty services, such as a cardiac nursing team and a spine team.
About the unit
Our 24-hour operating room (OR) offers the highest quality surgical care to all children in British Columbia, as well as those from other provinces and territories in Western Canada.
The state-of-the-art operating rooms include a hybrid OR, an interventional radiology room and a cardiac catheter lab. Rooms are outfitted with the latest technology to support advances in pediatric care.
The services provided through the OR include:
- Trauma surgery
- Scoliosis
- Cardiac procedures (including heart transplants)
- Ear, nose and throat
- Dental
- Orthopedic
- Plastics
- Neurosurgery
- Urology
- Gynecology
- Dermatology
- Ophthalmology
BC Children’s Hospital is a tertiary and quaternary level teaching hospital affiliated with the University of British Columbia. Learners from health-care disciplines around the world participate in the OR as part of our team.
BC Children’s Hospital is committed to supporting ongoing learning through dedicated education days, interdisciplinary education (including simulation) and a variety of workshop and conference opportunities.
OR schedules
Operating rooms are open Monday to Friday. Most nurses work from 7:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Smaller teams provide coverage in the evening and overnight shifts. Those shifts start at 3:30 p.m. onward, ensuring 24-hour coverage, seven days a week.
Training and education
BC Children's Hospital and PHSA offer specialized operating room (OR) training and other professional development education opportunities.
BC Children's provides OR staff with educational opportunities to advance their career in this specialized practice.
We provide:
- An orientation that is specialized to learning needs of new and trained OR nurses
- Perioperative specialty training cohorts three times annually in January, April and September
We encourage new graduate nurses to apply for training positions, offered through Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN).
We offer educational opportunities through the OR department, BC Children’s Hospital and PHSA.
Staff can attend courses to further enhance leadership skills and conferences to gain deeper knowledge in specific services.
We encourage staff to gain experience in:
- Taking charge
- Being a peer mentor
- Participating in project work
- Covering leadership opportunities