Do hospitals still have RNFA?

[WYRN]

I am wondering about becoming a RNFA. I have always be interested in surgery and the duties of a RNFA. I have 1 year left of nursing school and have been offered an OR job already. Are hospitals still utilizing RNFA? How can you find RNFA jobs? I am looking for RNFA jobs in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Nebraska, South Dakota etc. Is anyone a RNFA in the Midwest region? I know the path to becoming a RNFA just wondering if hospitals still use them?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Very dependent on facilities and their structures. I would bet that the larger academic facilities would be less likely to utilize them due to the presence of residents, fellows, and medical students. Other facilities may expect physician groups to provide their own assistants, which in my experience has lead to the groups employing PAs or NPs, as they can be utilized in roles outside the OR in addition to assisting. There are facilities that utilize them, but it's going to take some research to find them.

[RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN]

Not as prevalent in my neck of the woods. They have two CSFAs for the hospital but we went to what the newest model is, that is saving money wherever they can. Surgeons being in their FAs which are usually scrubs or PAs.

The nurses are being utilized mostly to circulate and every once in a blue moon go scrub something but it’s rare.

I don’t foresee the job outlook being very positive or be in demand for a nurse vs a scrub. Maybe I am wrong but that has been my experience.

Good luck

[FurBabyMom, MSN, RN]

My facility is a teaching hospital, so RNs and surgical techs generally do not get to first assist. Cardiothoracic surgery uses a PA in addition to a resident or fellow. Most of the inpatient surgery services use NPs and PAs to help manage the inpatient population and make the intern and first or second year resident's workloads easier and/or they see patients in clinic.

Within our health care system, at our other hospitals (community hospitals), RN and/or surgical techs trained to FA are somewhat more prevalent. It just depends though - some of those services use NPs or PAs for their FAs. This is both due to scope of practice and billing. The surgeons seem to prefer to have an NP or PA involved as they can "handle" the calls from PACU or the floor for order clarification, Rx issues, etc. This is not inherently different than what we see, with surgeons asking we redirect to a "consult" or "floor" resident unless the situation is a certain level of acuity/gravity that requires a senior resident or attending to help manage.

It depends on the facility. Where practices are owned by the health care system, the FAs are often employed by the system (whether it is the practice itself or surgery services/OR is a different story). If the facility has a lot of private practice providers, the FAs tend to be employed by the practice and not the hospital/surgery center but ARE credentialed.