Compare OR to Cath Lab

Specialties Operating Room

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I'm not sure which group to post this in, so I will start here. I work in peri op now, and I find the OR fascinating. However, I am in a specialty hospital where we do one specialty only. I'm very interested in cardiology, and I'm curious to know how similar the cath lab is to the OR. I've read that nurses circulate and scrub, plus it seems like they do some anesthesia stuff, push meds etc. Having never been in a cath lab it sounds very similar, yet a broader scope of activity at the same time.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

I would recommend shadowing for a day if you can to see the differences for yourself.

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Cath lab has procedures they do which are usually cardiac or PVD in nature. There is way more X-ray with cath lab and the procedures are limited. OR has more variety. They are similar, but very different at the same time.

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Hi. I am in Australia. I work 2 days Cath lab and 2 days Anaesthetics in OR. Have only been doing OR for 12ish months. I stick to my role in OR. Whereas in Cath lab my role could change in the next 5mins. Scrub/scout/anaesthetics do a bit of everything. As an RN we will give IV sedation of midazolam/fentanyl under direction of cardiologist. Acuity is increasing. Lots of GAs in cathlab. 2 cardiac labs. 1 vascular lab and 1 pacing Ep lab. Tavi, af ablation, evar. In next month we are opening a hybrid biplane lab so we are starting neuro and moving structural heart in there. So plenty going on in the lab. Loads to learn. Get in and have a look!

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Thanks! It's great to hear from someone that has experience in both.

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If you are talking about cardiac cath lab, you will need ICU experience first, ideally CVICU. The part that seems to be similar to OR is relatively trivial. This is from an OR travel nurse who scrubs and often does IR, and has to be standby (with a full field setup) on a number of AAA stents. As a cath lab nurse, you won't generally scrub anyway, your sedation and resuscitation skills are too important.

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