2bDocOc

That's a great question. Any takers?

I have received a lot of good answers, some of them I even agree with. Thank you for your answers. Obviously I know very little about the OR. Just from reading though, I still feel like a lot of the tasks are procedural/skills based, and a bit less critical thinking involved than say if you were in ICU. But I guess OR nursing is something that you need to experience and not read about to fully grasp the significance.

That's probably what I'm getting at, that you don't really need an RN for each room. I know the general concesus here is that you need a registered nurse for each operating room, but only when things get hairy; other times you're doing pretty much something anyone without a nursing degree can do. I wonder if in the future they'll decrease the numbers of RNs working in the OR department, assigning 1 RN to say 2 or 3 rooms.

I never downplayed patient advocacy. It's important, no doubt, but let's not oversell it either. It's not something specific to RNs. LPNs/Surg Techs/RCAs, whoever really, can be just as good patient advocates as RNs. Advocacy is about being caring and ethical, not what kind of degree you hold. Honestly I think it's quite arrogant of RNs to think that they're the only effective patient advocates out there.

Thank you canesdukegirl for your detailed reply. I know one day in the OR is hardly enough time for me get get a full understanding. I'll probably know what a circulator does way better when I being my clerkship. I really only just had questions, I didn't mean to offend anybody. Does the circulator ever perform a head-to-toe assessment? I mean, we learned that quite intensively in nursing school, and the degree of coverage we learned in obtaining HPI and physical assessment is I think what separates RNs from other health workers. I didn't see one circulator with a stethoscope when I was in the OR (which is very little time, I will admit again)?

I did look through the forum, back to back in fact, but all it came down to was being a patient advocate. And I don't think advocacy is something only a RN can do.To ruralgirl08 and canesdukegirl: Thank you for your honest answers. No I'm not a surgeon. I'm a BSN turned MS, so I only know the basics of nursing, and have no real experience whatsoever. I just had my first observation in the OR, hence all the questions. The circulator wasn't exactly the most approachable, and my surgeon wondered the same thing as I did. But your answers cleared it up for me a little bit, so I appreciate it.

Question for the OR nurses. Keep in mind I'm not trying to start a flame war, I'm genuinely curious about this: Why do we need a RN in the operating room? Most of the tasks (fetching for supplies, time-outs, advocating for patients) can be done by a LPN/Surg Tech. What makes the RN education applicable to the OR? Pre-op interviews comprise mostly of making sure documents are signed and whether the pt is NPO. I don't know any circulator that actually does a head-to-toe assessment during pre-op interview. As for med-passing, the anesthetist does that mostly. A lot of OR nurses I know are quite clueless regarding pharamcology. I think nurses are fantastic and are much needed in health care, but I don't see why one has to go through 4 years of school to be an efficient OR nurse. Being a patient advocate requires compassion and common sense, and that's not specific to RNs. Enlighten me. And again, I'm not trying to insult anybody. I may just be painfully ignorant as to what a circulator does. In that case, please convince me that what you learned in nursing school is actually useful in the OR?