knapper45

:heartbeat I picked the OR because I love anatomy! I also learned during nursing school that I liked taking care of patients that were not awake! I like the physical challenges of the OR and the technical aspect as well. After circulating for 10 years, I switched hospitals, joined a heart team and then got the opportunity to scrub/first assist. That really did it for me; now I am a CRNFA- certified RN First Assistant and I love my job!!! I work in the OR only and am employed by the hospital so there are no reimbursement issues. I get to greet the patient, help with room set up, positioning and then I get to assist and close. For me it is the best of nursing! Good Luck to you. If interested, check out the AORN.org website and the Perioperative 101 course. It is a great way to get training for the OR. Take care.

Hello There! The RN in the OR is the Circulating nurse who is in charge of all patient care in that room. We supervise scrub techs, document all care, ensure patient safety and provide assistance to everyone in that room. As for what is called "first assisting" where one stands across from the surgeon and assists with surgery, you can do that in a number of ways. There is the PA and NP who get reimbursement; ot the RN can go through a RN First Assistant program to become a RNFA or CRNFA (certified through AORN/CCI) but these RNFAs do not always get reimbursed. Thus the NP who assists! I am a CRNFA who is hospital employed and I love what I do. I am there when they set up the room, when the patient comes in the room and I stay in the rrom until the patient goes to PACU! That is how we differ from a PA- we focus on the total patient, not just the procedure! Hope this helps! :redpinkhe

Not uncommon I believe. We have two nurses in our PACU that were OR nurses that just preferred to take care of awake patients; they like the predominant thinking verses physical labor! :chuckle

The fact that you are concerned shows what a great nurse you are! Learning to scrub helps with case prep, supply prep and anticipation of general needs. Being a great circulator means staying focused on the patient even when the drapes are on, paying constant attention to what is happening on the field, and listening to what is going on. Sitting in the corner on the internet shows poor judgement! Your heart is in the right place so do not worry about not bing able to scrub; that is not important in many places. Using your critical thinking skills and being organized is way more important. Keep up the good work but also watch for opportunities during downtimes to learn to scrub! Your persistance will help your learning! Good luck!

WOW! You all rock! Yes we are important because we are the unresponsive patient's advocate when they need us most! The Docs that make those stupid comments are the ones who love to have an opinion just to show their ignorance/ego. How many of us catch the fact that no antibiotics have been ordered, or the permit is wrong, or that labwork is wacked and surgery might be detrimental to the patient? As one of you said- we cover their butts! We are legislating for RN in the OR in my state so this discussion is near and dear to my heart:heartbeat. We are not just trained monkeys as one of my docs said, we are trained, professional, critical thinkers who are the number #1 patient advocate! End of story.

Of course! I love Congress and have gone for the past 8+ years. I do not always get help with the cost so I have learned to budget for education/travel, although that is sometimes tough nowadays. Yet for me, Congress gets me out into the world, I can network with tons of people, I always learn something new and valuable, and meet new friends. As for funding, keep trying; talk to the CNO and see if she has any ideas on how to get a grant or scholarship...often there is money available because they do budget for education but only the persistant get rewarded. So for me Congress is a priority...I just use PTO time so that I am guarntanteed to go! Hope to see you there!

We have recently changed our policy. We now stock disposeable tourniquets of various sizes for "dirty" cases. We also stock TQT covers (Zimmer) for use to cover reusable TQTs. We will now be storing our vast array of TQTs in one storage area so as to avoid cross-contamination. Sizes will be retrieved on an as need basis. They will be sent to be reprocessed after use. Hope this helps you.