Do OR nurses do surgery tech duties also?

A good part of the country uses scrub nurses. There used to be no scrub techs..... a scrub nurse makes a much more well rounded circulator.

Yes and much more. When I started in the OR there were really no techs used in hospitals. They were mainly used in the military. An RN who can scrub becomes extremely useful individual and not a one dimensional person. If given a chance to train to scrub one should always take it because it makes you that more marketable.

If I can't get into the program this year, I thought about doing the one year surg tech course while i wait to get in.

In the Army I rarely have to scrub, but we were trained how to scrub. We usually have two circulators in the room and sometimes they need someone else to scrub in and help out if there aren't enough residents/med-students. I know in the Navy they have a scrub-tech and circulating tech and the RN just kind of supervises via stool.

Let me make sure I am understanding your post correctly...you are applying for nursing school or you already have and are awaiting a decision from the school and in the meantime you want to go to surgical tech school?

If in fact, this is the case, have you heard from the nursing school as to the length of time you will have to wait? That should be first on the agenda. If they say it will be about a year, then YES!!!! You should go to surgical tech school.

Some hospitals offer a program in which they will teach you how to scrub, but these programs are rare. They are typically nurse residency programs offered at university based hospitals. When you get out of school, I highly suggest finding a nurse residency program. The experience and guidance you will get is RICH.

If you already know how to scrub, it will give you a clear advantage once you start a job in the OR as an RN. You will be more valuable to the team and in turn, you will have more opportunities available to you.

Scrub techs are much more friendly on payroll. Some RN's have had training/internships at both scrubbing and circulating. In my internship we scrubbed for 2 weeks, then circulated for 2 weeks, rotating to different services (general, eyes, pedi, ent, plastic, ortho, cv circulate only, neuro/spine, etc...) NOT all OR RN's are capable of scrubbing.