Do most OR's use scrub tech's?

[galenanurse]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if your OR uses scrub tech's, or RN'S scrub and circulate? I just had a phone interview with a large hospital in Chicago, and they said their OR RN's scrub 50% and circulate the other 50%. They say you do one half the day, and switch for the other half of the day so their nurses are always scrubbing and circulating. Are there any nurses out there working this kind of schedule in the OR? Do you also have scrub tech's or only RN's?

Thanks

Jen

[linda2097]

Most hospitals are letting techs do most of the scrubbing because they are paid less. If you want to scrub, your facility is awesome.

Scrubbing will make you a better circulator because you will learn what a tech needs without them having to ask for it.

[GadgetRN71, ASN, RN]

My facility trains new OR nurses to both scrub and circulate. In my dept., night call is scrub call and both RNs and techs are expected to take it. I'll scrub people out for breaks/meals too if needed. I love scrubbing, I was a tech before I was a nurse.

I know it is cheaper to have techs do all the scrubbing but from a staffing standpoint, I think it's beneficial to have nurses who can do both.

[Scrubby]

We don't have any techs at all where I work. Our director refuses to employ them because we're trying to protect our jobs.

The RN's scrub and scout. We take it in turns and there is usually a scrub and two scouts to each OR.

[lmd]

In Australia RNs scrub and we have ENs or AINs circulate (we even have orderlies who circulate now due to the Nursing shortages!)

I think they have just started teaching EN's to scrub now too there just has to be a RN in the room (Aneasthetics or Circulating)

We currently do not have scrub techs, although I have asked our Nursing Unit Manager if we would employ an USA trained Scrub Tech as my aunt is a ST and wishes to move here, I found that she would have no problems being hired.

[fracturenurse]

Where I work now, we have a lot of scrub techs. I did work at one hosptial, and it was mainly RN's who did the scrubbing. I loved scrubbing. My current facility, I haven't got to scrub yet and I've been there since April.

[ewattsjt]

My facility uses surgical technologists to scrub and assist. Only when there is a staffing issue does an RN get to scrub except for a CRNFA who assists.

[shodobe]

I work two different hospitals. The one I work part time uses STs alot and the RNs get very little scrub time. The OH scrubs are RNs though, surgeon preference. The hospital I have been at for 30 years has had maybe 3 techs in those years. We have always preferred RNs to techs because of the versatility. Techs can only do one thing, scrub. RNs, on the other hand can do both. Much better use of manpower and you never have to think how you are going to staff rooms. I have always felt the complete OR nurse can scrub and circ. We make that a requirement on hire, you have to master both areas to work for us.

[BrianLee]

Every O.R. I have worked in the last decade uses Surgical Technologist as their primary scrubbed team member.

[BrianLee]

We don't have any techs at all where I work. Our director refuses to employ them because we're trying to protect our jobs.

The RN's scrub and scout. We take it in turns and there is usually a scrub and two scouts to each OR.

Protect your jobs from what exactly? It's a good thing that O.R.'s come equipped with double doors.

[Scrubby]

Protect your jobs from what exactly? It's a good thing that O.R.'s come equipped with double doors.

Protect our jobs from being taken over by non nursing trained staff.

I have read many threads/posts here about how RN's are no longer being trained to scrub. That's the last thing I want to see happen in my country.

[BrianLee]

protect our jobs from being taken over by non nursing trained staff.

i have read many threads/posts here about how rn's are no longer being trained to scrub. that's the last thing i want to see happen in my country.

it's too late. your jobs have all ready been taken over by non nursing staff. your career in the management and delegation of these trained professionals has, however, advanced. have you considered how much of a floor nurses job is done by ancillary staff like phlebotomists, pct's, pt's, rt's, environmental services, ect, ect, ect. i'm sure some nurse way back when probably said, "the last thing i want to see happen to my country is see some non nursing trained staff member drawl blood on my patients." now, i am confident that they are happy to see they staff because they are so over loaded.

in my opinion the best way to protect one's job security is furthering the advancement of your professions training, not stifling that of another. rn's are not excluded from evolving with the times and adjusting to meet the new needs of the patient and community.

rn's are still being trained to scrub, but they have to want it and seek that training like any person who has a career goal. they don't just give it to you because you have a rn on your badge. if there were more interest in the field of nursing and nurses in general did not have a history of eating their young there would not be as much of a need for unlicensed personnel as there is in today’s climate. i have yet to meet a nurse, who excelled in his/her position as a circulator, that has not had the opportunity to learn to scrub. rn's are not trained in school to fully understand even the basics of working in the operating room, that is why it is so important to seek out a quality surgical internship. one with surgical scrubbing included if possible. personally, i think it is incredibly important for a nurse to be competent and able to perform the scrub role. the rn is the patients’ primary advocate, a role that is hard to fill if he/she does not know what is going on.

many circulators that are trying to delegate orders to the surg. tech's do not have the experience to understand the basics of what they are doing let alone the instrumentation. many of the best circulators were initially trained as surg. techs. so, i can understand why some in the nursing profession would be intimidated. furthermore, if that skill is so important to someone, perhaps they should consider a surg. tech program where they teach you the specifics of the art of surgical technology.

i'm sure after careful thought you can think of a list of other things that are higher up on the priority list of what you wouldn't want to happen in your country than this. perhaps the fact that if the nursing crisis keeps heading where it is forecasted that someday you may be supervising two or three o.r. rooms staffed entirely by non nursing trained staff. similar to how floor nursing has become. so, encourage others to attend nursing school, encourage those talented trained staff members to further their education. we need more nurses, but until that happens we need to learn to work with and appreciate each other. be thankful that you have this auxiliary staff instead of resentful. it is a load that the nursing profession itself can not carry on its own.