RN scrubbing vs. tech scrubbing

[yukores]

All,

Just curious if your facility endorses RNs scrubbing.

I personally see many benefits for RNs to scrub, but I know that there are some downside to it.

Our OR has been short for scrub techs for a long time, and there are some RNs who want to learn how to scrub. One would think that those RNs who want to learn how to scrub should start scrubbing. But, it hasn't happen for some reasons.

I would appreciate if you could share your opinion and what your OR does on this matter.

Thank you!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Generally, we don't have RNs scrubbing unless they were once upon a time an ST or have scrub experience from another facility. Basis being that STs come out of school knowing the basics; RNs come out of school needing training from the basics on up. We're pretty evenly divided on RN to ST ratio.

What's going to matter for your facility is where do you stand with RN staffing as is? Just because they want to scrub doesn't mean the facility necessarily has the option of doubling them up for the length of time it'll take for them to learn to scrub. Are the current STs experienced enough and knowledgeable enough to be able to fill in as preceptors for those with no scrub experience? What is the reason for not being able to recruit/retain ST staff? There's so much more to the situation than simply RNs learning to scrub.

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

Depends on facility. The 3 big hospitals in my area want RNs to both circulate and scrub.

[jeckrn, BSN, RN]

One reason some facilities do not want RN's to scrub is the cost. The pay for an scrub tech can be half of what an RN makes depending on the area.

[FurBabyMom, MSN, RN]

Most of the nurses in my facility (academic, level 1 trauma center) can both scrub and circulate. I'd say more than 90% of our nurses scrub. It's pretty rare to be an RN who doesn't scrub. We have a few who can but prefer not to but could if they had to or were needed to. Our new to OR nurses are taught how to scrub and how to circulate.

I would agree that nurses have to "learn" how to scrub, but there are benefits of being able to function in both roles. More than once my assignment has been changed and I've been moved to scrub a specific to service emergency case. I am a better circulator being able to scrub all of the cases on our service line. I know what trays specific instruments are kept in, what specific instruments are used for, etc. I also know what is going to be needed when the crap hits the fan and the plan drastically changes. I know what things are, what supplies are used for, and know what we could "get away" with using if what we needed wasn't available. For facilities doing multi-team procedures, the flexibility of utilizing RNs to circulate or scrub as needed is an added bonus.