Definition please? OR, PACU, Scrub, Circulating, Perioperative?

JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN · May 27, 2011

OR/Circulating nurse is in charge of everything that happens in the operating room. He/she gets sterile supplies for scrub nurse/tech, gets patient prepped (betadine scrub, positioning on the table), documents everything and makes sure the anesthesiologist has his supplies. PACU - once the patient is done with surgery, he is wheeled off to a PACU area (sometimes the patients room like after a c-section) and is watched one-on-one by the PACU nurse. The PACU nurse is taking vital signs every 15 minutes until the patient is stable. Nausea and vomiting are very common after surgery so they make sure the patient does not aspirate. They have suction ready and other emergency supplies just in case. Not sure about perioperative. There is a pre-operative nurse that does the vital signs and assessments before surgery. She will reconcile medication that the patient is taking at home, get a thorough history of prior surgeries and anything that might affect the surgery or recovery, allergies. If the patient needs prophylactic antibiotics, they are the ones to set this up.

I have watched surgeries in the regular OR and obstetrics OR and the regular OR splits up these nursing jobs into 3 different entities. In obstetrics, one nurse traveled with the patient, setting up the IV, getting a history. Then she became the circulating nurse in the OR, getting all the supplies and documenting everything. Then she followed the patient to her postpartum room, where she took vital signs Q 15 min for an hour.

If you have a test coming up, try visualizing what you think each of these jobs entail.

Lilbit, ADN · May 28, 2011

Thanks for the reply! So OR and circulation nurse are the same what about "scrub" nurse and Perioperative?

JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN · May 28, 2011

I believe that the scrub nurse handles all the sterile supplies and hands them to the surgeon. This person maintains the sterile field and is "scrubbed up" in surgical scrubs along with the surgeon and first assist. Hospitals have scrub nurses and scrub techs. The techs get paid considerably less for doing basically the same job.

The term perioperative nurse encompasses all of the nursing positions before during and after surgery. Here's a neat little article describing the different perioperative nursing jobs.

http://www.aorn.org/CareerCenter/CareerDevelopment/RoleOfThePerioperativeNurse/

Lilbit, ADN · May 28, 2011

I believe that the scrub nurse handles all the sterile supplies and hands them to the surgeon. This person maintains the sterile field and is "scrubbed up" in surgical scrubs along with the surgeon and first assist. Hospitals have scrub nurses and scrub techs. The techs get paid considerably less for doing basically the same job.
The term perioperative nurse encompasses all of the nursing positions before during and after surgery. Here's a neat little article describing the different perioperative nursing jobs.
http://www.aorn.org/CareerCenter/CareerDevelopment/RoleOfThePerioperativeNurse/

Cool, thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I don't have a teat or anything, I've just been really curious about nursing surrounding surgery. I haven't even started NS yet so I want to keep an open mind but that's one of the fields I'm really drawn to :)

JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN · May 28, 2011

I have only done a morning in orthopedic surgery and another in obstetrics. I think the circulation nurse has the best job. Although, it would be a great gig to be the surgeon's first assist. Usually a physician's asst does this but occasionally a very well trained nurse is doing it. I'm not too interested in doing either as a career just because I prefer to take care of patients that are awake for the most part. Keep researching, it might be your thing and surgery is always fascinating.

Lilbit, ADN · May 29, 2011

I agree with you about the patient being awake being nice. But I also think the technical side of the OR would be so fascinating and to be able to see the inner workings of the body! I'm keeping an open mind about what might be a good fit until I start going to school :)