Cell saver

[CarolinaBSN2012]

Who runs the cell saver in your OR? If it is the RN, how are they trained? Are all the nurses trained to operate the cell saver. How do they demonstrate competency with this skill if it is one not performed on a routine basis (less than one per year).

[dah doh, BSN, RN]

Sorry I'm not an OR nurse, but we only give cell saver in extreme emergency like a trauma patient who is bleeding out. We don't have a special competency sign off on it because we just spike it like a unit of blood.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

We contract with a perfusion group to actually run it (the same group runs our cardiopulmonary bypass machine) but all nurses are trained on how to set it up for collection and are required to perform a set up as an annual competency.

[SandraCVRN]

We do the same as Wild Rose except not all nurses know how to set up. All of us on the heart team can get it setup, but not everyone else in the OR can do it.

[ORoxyO]

We also have a perfusion group to run it. All I do is push it in the room and give them the supplies.

[ChristineAdrianaRN, BSN, RN]

Anesthesia runs it. I don't know jack about that thing.

[NedRN]

As a traveler who does a lot of CVOR assignments, I can tell you I have been in half a dozen hospitals that require nurses to do it. And not only in CVOR. Set up only is more common, but still perhaps in the minority of hospitals. If it is not a private contractor, usually it is a super-user or perfusion that signs you off.