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| No. 10 | 
Jul 11, 2009, 01:41 AM
 Re: What's the easiest job in the operating room?
I'm not sure you can even compare circulating and scrubbing. I do both and they both have their hard parts.
In my specialty, night call(11p-7am) is scrub call. I was on call a few weeks ago and stayed the whole call shift. Let me tell you, I had forgotten how taxing scrubbing can be..I literally walked out of there the following morning feeling like I had been beaten.
Good scrubs are worth their weight in gold. When I was a scrub, not only did I train new scrub techs, often I had a new nurse who didn't know what a certain instrument was, etc. Also, you're keeping an eye on the med student. There were times when the attending would be quizzing the student on anatomy and I fed him/her the right answer  (I did really well in Anatomy class). Or, you're watching them to make sure they don't contaminate themselves. You have to anticipate the surgeon, keep track of some very small needles etc.
Circulating is no piece of cake either, you're watching the patient, helping anesthesia, handling beepers/cell phones/ pagers. You have much responsibility-if something goes wrong, good chance it'll get blamed on the circulator, deserved or not.I will say that due to my time as a scrub, I think it helps my circulating.
To me, the OR is almost all about the teamwork..I've worked with teams where everything just flows, and you are actually having fun at work. I've worked with teams where the tension was unbearable. I wouldn't say any job in the OR is the easiest-it's such a subjective thing. Your coworkers can truly make or break you.
 | | Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 12 |
Jul 16, 2009, 04:01 AM
Re: What's the easiest job in the operating room?
I would say that the easiest job in the OR is the anaesthetic nurse. They assist with intubation, extubation and during the case most of the ones at my work will just sit in the break room and walk around aimlessly doing nothing. They get really annoyed when we ask them to help with circulating, they never organise bringing the patient into the OR, they stay on their side of the room with the anaesthetist and pretty much ignore us.
| | No. 14 |
Aug 16, 2009, 05:29 PM
Re: What's the easiest job in the operating room?
I'd never say that any job is easy in the OR, the OR is not where the easy jobs are.
| | No. 15 |
Aug 23, 2009, 08:42 PM
Re: What's the easiest job in the operating room? Originally Posted by linda2097  No offense Shari, but have you circulated? OVERALL, circulating is a lot harder than first assisting or scrubbing. Yes, there are tough cases to scrub, but OVERALL, circulating is the hardest. I look forward to the days that I get to scrub all day. Scrubbing is usually fun. There is so much less responsibility, which is precisely why an RN degree in not required. Most techs have no idea how hard is circulating, despite the fact that they watch circulators in action everyday. I've seen excellent scrub techs become nurses and they are unpleasantly surprised how difficult is circulating. The point is that until you do all three... circulating, scrubbing, and first assisting, you cannot accurately judge which job is the toughest.
As for RNFA training, the course is usually just a few days long, followed by logging hours first-assisting in their hometown hospital. So their training is very little more than that of a circulator.
You're a tech, so you have first-assisted often, and when you do so, you are being the scrub tech at the same time. Now imagine doing only the first assisting part. Unless the patient is crashing or bleeding out, it is an easy job.
I work with an RNFA with 20 years experience. I asked her why she became an RNFA. She told me that she "just wanted to do what was easiest." You may not like her answer, but she was just being honest.
Yes, I realize that it is politically incorrect to say that some jobs are harder than others, but to say that all jobs are OVERALL EXACTLY equal in difficulty is inaccurate.
Tell me what F.A.'s do besides retract, suction, cut, saw, drill, and suture?
The skills involved in scrubbing and first assist are more difficult to learn than prepping, positioning, and having a chat with the patient. Sure circulating has more individual tasks, and you have to be organized, but try scrubbing 4-5 totals in a day without lunch and see who works harder.
| | No. 17 |
Aug 24, 2009, 02:50 PM
Re: What's the easiest job in the operating room? Originally Posted by Jeff RN The skills involved in scrubbing and first assist are more difficult to learn than prepping, positioning, and having a chat with the patient.
Wow, you sure make circulating sound easy. Originally Posted by Jeff RN Sure circulating has more individual tasks, and you have to be organized, but try scrubbing 4-5 totals in a day without lunch and see who works harder.
So you are saying that scrubbing is harder than circulating because only circulators get breaks?
| | No. 18 |
Aug 27, 2009, 04:20 PM
Re: What's the easiest job in the operating room? Originally Posted by linda2097 No offense Shari, but have you circulated? OVERALL, circulating is a lot harder than first assisting or scrubbing. Yes, there are tough cases to scrub, but OVERALL, circulating is the hardest. I look forward to the days that I get to scrub all day. Scrubbing is usually fun. There is so much less responsibility, which is precisely why an RN degree in not required. Most techs have no idea how hard is circulating, despite the fact that they watch circulators in action everyday. I've seen excellent scrub techs become nurses and they are unpleasantly surprised how difficult is circulating. The point is that until you do all three... circulating, scrubbing, and first assisting, you cannot accurately judge which job is the toughest.
As for RNFA training, the course is usually just a few days long, followed by logging hours first-assisting in their hometown hospital. So their training is very little more than that of a circulator.
You're a tech, so you have first-assisted often, and when you do so, you are being the scrub tech at the same time. Now imagine doing only the first assisting part. Unless the patient is crashing or bleeding out, it is an easy job.
I work with an RNFA with 20 years experience. I asked her why she became an RNFA. She told me that she "just wanted to do what was easiest." You may not like her answer, but she was just being honest.
Yes, I realize that it is politically incorrect to say that some jobs are harder than others, but to say that all jobs are OVERALL EXACTLY equal in difficulty is inaccurate.
Tell me what F.A.'s do besides retract, suction, cut, saw, drill, and suture?
If you think that being an FA is holding the retractor where you were told to put it (or it was placed) then yeah its a pretty easy job. On the other hand if you are a real first assist then there is a lot more to it.
1. Keep an eye out on whats happening outside the surgical field. Keep an eye on the patients vital signs, blood loss, etc. Keep the surgeon updated on what is going on.
2. Keep an eye on the time. Remind the anesthesiologist when to give intraop meds and redose antibiotics.
3. Keep ahead of the surgeon. While keeping the field dry plan your next move. Where does the retractor need to be so the surgeon can see? What suture needs to come up next?
4. If there is an emergency what do you need to do to help get control?
5. Keep an eye on anatomic structures that may be outside of their immediate field of vision. Gently remind the surgeon of these structures.
Now do all this with a pair of 3 power loupes on. Do it while locked in an awkward position for three or four hours. The job of a good first assistant is to make the surgeon more effective and allow them to concentrate on the surgery. You have to understand the surgery inside and out. You have to have a knowledge of the surgical anatomy and what to do in a surgical emergency.
Retracting, cutting and suturing are technical tasks. Holding a retractor once doesn't mean that someone assisted anymore than the fact that I got a roll of tape for anesthesia once makes me a circulator.
David Carpenter, PA-C
| | No. 19 |
Aug 28, 2009, 10:52 PM
Updated
Aug 28, 2009 at 11:21 PM by linda2097
Re: What's the easiest job in the operating room?
David, would you circulate for a living if it paid as much as your current salary?
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