What Do Operating Room Nurses Do?

Thank you. I have an OR interview next week and I think your article will be helpful.

Thank you so much for this post!!! From one circulator to another, it's appreciated!!

Thank you! I am entertaining the thought of transfering from critical care to the OR and this was very hepful!!

Thank you for a well written, informative, thorough article. I still feel however, that OR nurses are overqualified for the position. Any nurse would be overqualified. The patients are only in the OR for a short time, informed consent, NPO status, the chart, tests, have already been checked several times up on the unit, and "the nurse develops a rapport!!", yeah, for about 2 minutes! Most of the assessment part involves being a last second secretary. Diagnosis? The care plan has already been written up on the unit; education will be done on the unit----the patient isn't going to remember much about whatever you will teach them. ...."Holds the patient's hand to comfort them...", aaawww, you really need a BSN for that! I feel different about nurses in the recovery room. They're often Critical-Care nurses. I'm speaking from being a patient and from 33 years of nursing experience. It's just my opinion and I thank you again for your article.

I plan to discuss this again on my radio show on an AM station in Philadelphia, PA in the future. I just never saw the need for a Registered Nurse in the operating room. Often, you're just a gofer.

I disagree with just about everything you've written. From what I understand, when things go wrong, they can go wrong fast, and in an immediate life/death way. Nothing is guaranteed or assured. If I were a patient, I'd want those OR people to be the most "overqualified" people I could have (I dislike that term intensely - an HR hiring manager's "buzzword"). You make it sound like OR nurses are mere caretakers, and I don't buy it for a second. So you have a radio show eh? I avoid talk radio nowdays for many reasons - most of what they preach I'm not buying.......

I have been practicing nursing for over 33 years as a staff nurse, nursing supervisor, nurse manager, educator, preceptor for new nurses and/or students, clinical instructor, and health care sales rep, and all of these jobs entailed more than holding someone's hand or fetching NSS or D5W for the doctor! And yes, I am practicing now as a home care nurse which also entails more thought and expertise and critical-thinking than talking to a patient for less than 2 minutes.
I went into broadcasting so I can highlight nurses' expertise and put nursing into a good light for a change. I've had many nurses on the show in the past 6 months, talking about a variety of topics. I believe that nurses in the operating room just highlights doctors feelings that nurses are just handmaidens and can be pushed around. That contributes to the overall feeling in this country that nurses are insignificant. Look at the assault rates in emergency rooms and on med-surg units. Physical violence directed at nurses is on the rise. There are many reasons for it and one of them is that nurses aren't respected. Maybe if nursing was dominated by male nurses it would be different. Maybe we should take over! Then we'll trade----operating room staff will not be nurses and hospital administrators will be nurses. That's a good deal....maybe we should look into it.

Oh, boy,are you gonna get it! You didn't seriously just play the gender card (in addition to insulting your peers! )Are you trolling or what?!!!

No, I'm not trolling for anything. I've had this feeling about OR nurses for a long time and this site and Beth's article gave me an opportunity to voice my opinion. I'd rather see an educated, experienced nurse working in an area where she or he can use that education rather than in an area where anyone with only a high school education can do the job. Since I've never worked in an OR my perspective of the issue will be different from someone like Beth (the original poster). And I do have compassion for the patients. And yes, I have undergone surgery, and had my hand held by an OR nurse, and it was comforting. But it could have been done by an OR tech without an RN background.

Worked in OR's for 30 years and cannot justify paying an RN for a technical job. When the feces hits the fan, anesthesia and surgeons make the calls - not the nurses. You don't have to have an RN education to be smart, competent and able to think on your feet (and improvising would be good too) - all qualities which go far in the OR and could be better taught in a 2 years framework dedicated to the sciences and skills exclusively needed in the OR. Its way to expensive for institutions to "break-in" RN's. New grads should be able to be up and running immediately because they've had student experience scrubbing and circulating in their college program. You say you assess skin color? What it is exactly that you DO about it - what is it that is uniquely nursing?- What is is that you can do that anesthesia or surgeon cant? What was the nursing board question that covered that uniquely nursing activity? RN's are simply the wrong people in the wrong place. Patients deserve people with an education totally dedicated to the OR.