Assisting with Circumcisions

Nurses General Nursing

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We are trying to align policies with our sister hospital and have come across a major difference. Newborn Circumcisions are assisted by RNs on our Mother Baby unit but by Patient Care Technicians at our sister hospital.

Our rational is that:

1. it is a surgical procedure

2. the infant needs assessed throughout and the site immediately post procedure, before it is dressed, as well periodically over the next 2 hours.

Can you tell me who assists the surgeon at your hospital?

Thanks in advance.

As someone who has spent a lot of time in the nursery doing newborn infant hearing screenings, it has always been a physician (usually the OB who delivered the child) and a nurse assisting with the circ and then the nursery staff doing all follow-up with the OB checking the site the next day.

I don't believe in circ personally, but hey to each their own. I only had to see one botched circ where a child laid in the circumstraint bleeding for 30 minutes while they tried to find a needle small enough to stitch the little guy up. No thanks. My son was not circ'd.

One hospital I was at had THE RN do time out and Pct stay to assist. Hospital I work out now has a nursery or mother baby RN present for circ

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Wherever I've worked, it's always been an RN

Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.

Same here. And mine was not circ'd either.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, educator.

RN here too

Specializes in Critical Care.

My kids have had them done at the doctor's office, no RN's work there, the assist was an MA for one and I think an LPN for the other. I see no compelling reason why it needs to be an RN.

Specializes in Reproductive & Public Health.
My kids have had them done at the doctor's office, no RN's work there, the assist was an MA for one and I think an LPN for the other. I see no compelling reason why it needs to be an RN.

Well when there are no complications, a routine circ is pretty easy to assist with and I am sure an MA or PCT could handle it easily. But in the rare cases where a complication occurs, at the very least an RN needs to be immediately available to intervene, unless the provider remains readily available for the recovery period.

(Also not a fan of routine infant circumcision over here. But I do assist in it when I work as an RN)

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

(Also not a fan of routine infant circumcision over here. But I do assist in it when I work as an RN)

This, exactly.

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