ronarmynurse

There are national standards for OR turnover time. The standards say 18 minutes. Take into consideration that this is for all the ORs in your hospital averaged together. As some others have said. Proper planning is important. It is impossible to go from laproscopic to total joint quickly. If you do back to back lap gallbladders and lap appys you should be able to do this in 15 mins or less. Same with ENT Eyes etc. This will offset your 30 minutes for total joint. I have a total joint team that can average 17min turnovers with back to back totals. GOOD LUCK PS we range between 17 and 19 mins on any given month.

As a Scrub Nurse, Circulating Nurse, and Nurse Manager of Surgery I can tell you it is not easy as a nurse to get in the scrub scene. The market is being flooded with scrub techs from quick production (I wouldn't call them colleges but they are) colleges. The Association of Operating Room Nurses (www.aorn.org) recommends a staffing ratio of about 60% RN and 40% Scrub Tech. Its a cost effective means for hospitals because they do not have to pay techs as much as RNs because they are not licensed. My recommendation to you is to become a circulating nurse, learn it well, make yourself invaluble to an organization (remember there is a nursing shortage that is growing) and then negotiate scrubbing. Stay after work and learn to scrub on our own time. Be creative