To hand or not to hand?

[SkipBeat]

Hello OR nurses,

I have a decision to make shortly regarding training in the OR. I was recently offered a job at my current place of employment to train in the OR. It is a small hospital with 4 ORs and you can pretty much say it's a surgery center with some in patient stays. The nurses mainly circulate and assist but do not hand. Which was one reason why I was leaning towards taking a position at a facility that offered peri-op 101. They train you to scrub and circulate and I felt I would be more marketable. I'm having trouble deciding now because after talking with some of the OR nurses at my current job, they said most facilities will not want you to hand, but mainly circulate and assist since techs are cheaper. Is there really no huge benefit to learning to hand at most facilities? Is it harder to get hired if you have only been trained to circulate, scrub in and assist? What experiences have you all had as regards to what an employer wants in an OR nurse? I'm sure its a plus to know how to hand, but is it detrimental to finding employment?

Thanks for your help!!

[shodobe]

Well here is an answer in a nutshell. In all my years doing this an RN who can not only circ well but scrub well is an asset that any manager would drool over. Your market stance goes up quite a bit and you become a valuable tool. Don't let anyone ever tell you this is a waste of time and if given the oppurtunity to learn how to scrub, jump on it! Yes, most places will use techs for scrubbing and you might not get too many chances to scrub but still the knowledge you have will benefit you. You have that insight on what is really going on at the table and can understand and anticipate the moves of the surgeons and evan the techs. A well trained and seasoned circ will always have an upper hand over new hires so any foot you can wiggle in the OR door is a good one. Good luck!

[SkipBeat]

thanks so much

[solneeshka, BSN, RN]

Of 14 rooms that my OR area has going on any given day, maybe half have scrub techs scrubbing and the the other half have RNs scrubbing. RNs who can circulate are especially helpful when it comes to lunch relief. By all means, learn to scrub! It can't hurt and can only help.