OR nurse in U.S.

[gcruzRN]

I'm an OR nurse from Canada. I have 3.5 years of experience as an OR nurse both as a circulator and scrub nurse. I'm wondering if how many circulators are there per OR suite in the U. S.? I asked this question bec where I worked in Canada there's 2 circulators per OR suite.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

My facility only has one circulator per room. So did the other facility I interviewed at. I highly doubt you will find a hospital in the U.S. willing to pay two nurses to care for one patient.

Exception: major trauma requiring multiple surgeons at the same time. Those we will staff a second circulator whose sole responsibility is to run the rapid infuser.

[NP Sam]

My hospital has two circulators per room and we are not a Level 1 Trauma center. It all depends on where you work.

[kguill975, MSN, APRN, NP]

I think it depends on the facility and the level of the case. Our hearts always had 2 circulators, but 1 scrub. Some traumas had 2 circulators, and 2 scrubs, but a random lap Chole, it's just you and a scrub.

[springchick1, ADN, RN]

Depending on the case there is 1 circulator and 1 scrub. If it's a case where instruments have to be counted there will be 2 nurses and some of cases, like total joints, typically require 2 scrubs. But most of the time it's just 1 and 1.

[kd7hfw]

I am in a Trauma 1 hospital and we have 1 circulator and 1 scrub with the exception of bad trauma cases. The pediatric hospital next to us always has 2 of both.

[CaliLvr000, BSN, RN]

1circ, 1 scrub. Unless it's a bad trauma and there's extra staff around to help out. In California.

[gcruzRN]

Thanks for your input fellow nurses! I was just wondering bec. I worked here in the U.S. and I was shocked that there's only one circulator running around in each room. Needless to say, I quit the job bec I found myself just running around and answering pagers for the docs and the counts we do at the end are so rushed that I felt so unsafe. Plus the surgeons just wanna rush to finish and bring their next case in so that they will not fall behind the schedule.

[kguill975, MSN, APRN, NP]

Thanks for your input fellow nurses! I was just wondering bec. I worked here in the U.S. and I was shocked that there's only one circulator running around in each room. Needless to say I quit the job bec I found myself just running around and answering pagers for the docs and the counts we do at the end are so rushed that I felt so unsafe. Plus the surgeons just wanna rush to finish and bring their next case in so that they will not fall behind the schedule.[/quote']

If you want a slower pace, find a nice university affiliated teaching hospital with residents. I work on the weekends as a circulator in a county hospital run by residents, and we get maybe 3 cases done in an 8hr shift, and those are the easy cases, lol. The only problem is that after sitting through 8 hr total joint cases, you'll be wishing for those faster cases.