Spine Surgery so Scary

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Hello here.

Are you reluctant in assisting a spine surgery, as a scrub?

In the hospital where i worked, other than the orthopaedic trained orp who looks tough inside out :smokin:, nurses are very reluctant to assist in spine surgery. We have tried our very best to share our experience and skills to nurses who are new or has not scrub in for a while but it all seems not encouraging to them.

I'm aware that one of the reason is the many types of implants and instruements used often confuse the nurses. Sometime just too many systems. Also, every instruments come with each system is different. I have a tough time to pick up all of them myself. But I really don't think it should become a resistance to learning. I'm sure there are some other reason which I'm not aware of. Please enlighten me with your thoughts.

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Specializes in Operating Room.

Nope, I love scrubbing and circulating backs. There are a lot of pieces, but maybe your reps could do an inservice or something. These cases ,as well as much of ortho, come down to experience and practice. Sometimes, you just have to jump in and do it.

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Specializes in NICU- now learning OR!.

I don't scrub but I love to circulate spine. We ALWAYS have a rep in the room to assist with instrumentation and implants. We truly have some gifted spinal surgeons that are patient if you are new to it. It can be REALLY tough when you have an anterior approach through the belly and have to COUNT everything! We just call the desk and request help with counting and it is usually not a problem. There are some that do spine more than others but most of us LOVE rotating through!

Jenny

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Never scrubbed one, but I LOVE any spine case..almost as good as a pelvic fracture.

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I've never scrubbed spines (the only thing I like to scrub is hearts - yeah, I'm crazy) but I love circulating spines. Maybe it's just my experience - excellent surgeons and really helpful reps.

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If you have a good tech,Doc, and rep in the room, circulating spines is not really all that different than any other case. Setup and positioning is different but after that it's no biggie..

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