To tell you how The Circulating Life began, I have to go back to my first day in the operating room. It was November 7th, 2011, and I can remember it vividly. Although I considered myself an “experienced” nurse, I was not prepared for how different the operating room environment was from the bedside and outpatient areas where I had worked for the past 9 years. The OR was definitely a whole new world.
As I tried to navigate this new, and very unique, area, I wanted to learn everything that I could about the OR nurse’s role. I looked online for other nurses who were sharing their experiences in the OR – I really wanted to soak up the lived experiences of others. I wanted to read about what it was like, learn more about the why behind what we do, and I wanted to find other people with experiences similar to mine. And while professional organizations existed, I was really looking for something more personal, but I couldn’t find it.
Orientation
I was also frustrated by a lack of a formal orientation program in my operating room. I was at the mercy of my daily preceptors, and dependent upon their understanding of the OR and their ability to pass it on to me. Some were better than others, but I felt like there was something lacking in my training. I did end up successfully completing my orientation, and eventually even found myself as the OR Manager for the same operating room that had trained me only a few short years prior.
But I still felt like there was something lacking in the perioperative world as a whole. We’ve got a very talented group of perioperative professionals, but where do we go to discuss our shared experiences? Who’s out there talking about what it’s like to be new to the OR, from the orientee’s perspective? Who understands the frustrations we experience, and isn’t afraid to talk about them?
If it didn’t exist, I was going to create it
I couldn’t find anyone else doing this online, so I decided to do it myself. The closed doors might always prevent others from going behind the red line, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t open them up online for us to get a peek inside the perioperative experiences of each other. And so, The Circulating Life was born in April of 2018. It started out as a blog, where I shared everything I could think of that would be helpful for new OR nurses. I’ve also tackled several best practices, but definitely from a different angle than the professional organizations. And I really just like to talk about what it’s like to work in the OR – we have stressful jobs, and it helps to have someone else out there who understands that.
The blog led to a Facebook page that quickly took on a life of its own. What I found was that having a low-stress place to talk about our shared experiences and the frustrations that we deal with on a daily basis was helpful – maybe even cathartic. It has quickly become a community of OR professionals that will give advice, ask questions and give helpful answers, and pass on their knowledge that is so helpful for all of us to share. We also have a good laugh at some of the stupidity that we deal with regularly – but if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry, and crying isn’t an option lol
The Circulating Life as a concept and as a brand is something that I’m extremely proud of. It has given me the opportunity to share the OR with the world from a very personal perspective. In 2021 alone, the blog reached people in 129 different countries. I’m amazed and humbled at the reach that this tiny little blog has achieved. And with over 21K followers on Facebook and a quickly growing Instagram following as well, I have really enjoyed sharing our OR lives and experiences with the world through social media.
Improving education in the industry
The Circulating Life also connected me with the folks at First Case, and I’ve been able to be a part of building the First Case brand from the beginning. I co-host the podcast, share articles I’ve written for their Articles On-The-Go series, create content for social media (although it requires me to behave a little more than on my own page), and I have also been able to organize and host educational conferences. The First Case brand is definitely growing, and it’s been fun to pour my creativity into a company that is committed to educating and improving the perioperative world.
It’s been a roller coaster of learning, writing, learning some more, and creating content that is relevant, helpful, and funny (maybe all three at once!) for the past 4 years. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, and I’m excited to see where we’re headed in the years to come.
Thank you for your support! I wouldn’t be here without you. Keep asking questions, keep sending me suggestions, and keep learning.
Until next time,
Melanie