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Discussion

OR Nursing Assistant Question

Hey guys, this is my first post so I wanted to introduce myself, I also had a couple of questions too. My name is Joe and I'm a nursing student and a Nursing Assistant in the OR. OR CNA's seem to be relatively rare, do any of you have NA's in your ORs? I LOVE working in the OR, and I have been here for about 3 years now, it's what helped me decide do go into nursing as a career, and it's what I want to do after nursing school, the OR is great. Another question, what are the limitations of the NAs in your ORs? I can prep, do foleys, I can set up tables as long as the scrub or RN is in the room, I can open sterile instruments and supplies, I can scrub in to hold limbs and retractors only(rarely happens :-( ), I can't count but I can add items to the count sheet. I can run holmium laser but not CO2 laser, blood sugars, vitals, basic stuff I can do. I'm just curious what all is allowed and not allowed in different places. Thanks!

Joe

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    • Featured Replies

    Your job sounds extremely responsible, and I wonder what you've been taught that wasn't on the original job description! Certainly way beyond what the average NA is doing!!

    Learn all you can, and best wishes!

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    • Admin

    We have what we call OR assistants and anesthesia techs who also do the duties of the OR assistants as well as assist the CRNA/MD. ORAs hold for preps, help with room turnover, do transports. They do not open sterile supplies, scrub, insert foleys, or prep.

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    I would question the nurses that are allowing you to do these jobs for them. These are definatly not in any cna job dscription ive ever seen. We have Anesthesia tech and attendants in my or. They arent allowed to do any of these things. Have fun in nursing. I have aways loved the or too.

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    • Author

    Well I do know that all of these tasks are in my job description, I have a copy of our hospital policy and all of these jobs are allowed by OR NAs, we also have a couple of nurses who run a very tight ship and they make sure to let me know if I am doing more than I'm allowed. Only OR NAs can insert foleys at my hospital, we have a lot of extra training in sterile technique that floor NAs do not have. I would never do anything to get one of my nurses in any trouble, I follow the rules as best I can. But our policy does allow for our OR NAs to do these extra jobs, and I love it. The OR is a great place to be. Thanks for your feedback guys!

    Joe

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    Wow you are lucky! I wish I could do all of that in my OR. I was an Anesthesia Tech before nursing school for 3.5 years, then I needed more flexibility with scheduling and went to work as a NA on the floors. After graduating I went back to the OR as a NA and we basically are housekeepers. I love being in the OR and it helps pass the time while I look for a job, but I am bored out of my mind!

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    • Author

    When it comes to prep, I rarely do it, most usually I will do it on a call case on the weekend. I help transport, turnovers etc... And as for scrubbing in to hold retractors, I have only been able to do that once in the 3 years I've been here, 99.99% of the time prep and retractors are done by the residents or scrubs, we have a ton of residents at our hospital so they are almost always the ones doing it. The time I scrubbed was for a LAVH that turned into a TAH, and the OR was slamming that day and the doc really needed help with retractors so I got to scrub and hold them for about a half hour, it was the best experience I have had in the OR so far. Foleys.. I have to do those a lot. We have an anes tech, but they rarely have any patient contact, she is used basically for anesthesia supplies, trouble shooting and help doing blocks. A lot of the times when there are a lot of residents available, I feel like a housekeeper too, all we do is turnover rooms, but I don't mind.

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