I Love Or!

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 29, 2006

There isn't really a time frame for it. After working with them, and hearing the names when the instrumens are asked for, it just sticks with you.

The harder part is the names that the surgeons use (ex. Kelly clamp, also known as a schnit, snap, stat, hemostat, hold, etc.).

walkingon, CNA, LPN · Dec 29, 2006

There are instrument books you can get (or possibly borrow from the hospital's library) that tell the generally accepted names of the common instruments for starters. Also, like Marie said, the names just come with experience. The scrub techs should be able to tell you, or you'll just learn when someone drops an instrument on the floor and you have to go get its sterile replacement. Good luck!

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 29, 2006

"Instrumentation for the Operating Room" (Mosby publishing) is a good picture book.

nursekatie22, RN · Dec 29, 2006

Thanks! I didn't even think of books because I tend to learn better if I can touch it/feel it, etc, but that'd be great! Every time I got to go to the OR as a student, I just came out glowing because it was so interesting (and half the time I wasn't even close enough to the table to see the "good stuff"!). Thanks a bunch! :D

CrazyScrubNurse, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2006

Katie there are so many other things to be worried about when switching to the OR than the instruments. Usually all of the instrument bins in the sterile cores have labels on the bins to tell you what they all are....well in the OR's I have worked in they do. The other ladies are right though, just ask your scrub. We are the experts of the instruments and usually are more than happy to help. Just get your "confident" face on and take lots of notes about everything. We just trained a new nurse...well, I say "just" but she has been training about 9 months and she is just now comfortable with being alone during cases. It's not something you can learn fast. It just takes time, :nurse: and a lot of patience. Just don't quit!!!! Our nurse was so freaked out by the change from the ICU to the totally unique world of the OR that she almost quit. Stick with it because once you get it, it's a BLAST!!!!!

nursekatie22, RN · Dec 30, 2006

Thank you so much for the input and encouragement! I loved the OR every time I went there (in three different hospitals) and I even got a couple good doctors who would invite me to come closer and would explain (and not ASK me!) what they were doing.....very cool! I'd like to be a scrub nurse one day so thanks for the inspiration! :D

shodobe · Dec 30, 2006

After 30 years and I BUY all of the instruments for the department, I still don't know all the names. If an OR nurse tells you that they know all the names, they are just blowing smoke. The people who specialize in different areas such as opthamology or neuro know their instruments inside and out while others will struggle with names. Marie is right in that surgeons are trained all over the place and call instruments by either the correct names or their own "pet" names which can confuse new people. Repetition and some very good books out there will heilp you alot, also a well-seasoned OR nurse. Good luck!

nursekatie22, RN · Dec 31, 2006

:p:p:p thank you!!

KristinWW · Jan 9, 2007

There isn't really a time frame for it. After working with them, and hearing the names when the instrumens are asked for, it just sticks with you.
The harder part is the names that the surgeons use (ex. Kelly clamp, also known as a schnit, snap, stat, hemostat, hold, etc.).

And how about the surgeons who make their requests with hand gestures (i.e. making a "U" with a hand when asking for a stitch)? :lol2:

KristinWW · Jan 9, 2007

I'm thinking about going into OR nursing after I get a couple years of Med/Surg and feel competant (if it happens that quickly!) and I had a question: How long does it take to learn the names of all those scissor-looking things and clamps, etc? That's what scares me the most because there's so freakin many of them!!!:uhoh3:

Instruments names aren't the hard part - it's learning the entire process. You will usually start learning by scrubbing, then circulating. Unfortunately I was given the opposite. It took me one year to feel comfortable circulating, and now after six months of scrubbing on and off, I'm feeling comfortable with that.

CrazyScrubNurse, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2007

Yes the hand signals without saying a word can get a bit confusing can't they. In our scrub school we were taught all of the common hand signals though. I guess once you have been doing this a while you just start to read your Docs and know what they want next even without any words or signals. I would rather that that hearing I NEED A GI POP-OFF NOW, 6 times in a row at a high pitched yell.