First assist

How dies one become a first assist? I was in the OR the other day for observation and I would love to do that. I wanted to ask the RN that was there that day but she was so busy I never had a chance to ask her.

Would working as a surgery tech help at all?

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Many times a first assist will be another doctor or resident etc...however plenty of places utilize Surgical First Assists, which are surgical techs and other individuals with specialized training and education on assisting in surgery. Often times becoming a surgical first assist requires a certain number of supervised and or documented surgical cases that individual must participate in in the first assist role.

An option for RN's is the RN First Assist. These are nurses, who have OR experience (in most cases at least) who go through advanced/supervised clinical training and education. In many cases these nurses are Certified OR nursed (CNOR).

Thanks :)

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You want to go to the American Association of periOperative Nursing, AORN, and look at the program for certifying as an RNFA (RN First Assistant). I have a friend who was one of the first ones and she loves it.

Just know that not all hospitals recognize First Assist. I work in surgery and the hosptial I work at does not. They can still scrub in but there are things that they are not able to.

Stooges,

If you're already in nursing school, then you don't have to complete a surg. tech program, you can get some training as a nurse. You'll want to find an internship that teaches both the scrub and circulating role, and scrub in at every opportunity. You do need two years OR experience before sitting for the CNOR, and if you want to be a certified RNFA (CRNFA), then you'll need a BSN. You have to be a CNOR before you can complete a RNFA program. There's another certification for ADNs, but I forgot the name. You can go to AORN as someone mentioned, and also CC-institute.org. They're the credentialing body for CNORs and CRNFAs. Good Luck!