This trend, at least in the Western states, is starting to irritate me more and more, the more I see it. I have been an OR nurse for over 20 years; scrub and circulate all areas; have done all kinds of trauma. Nowadays I only work as an OR nurse on a travel assignment once a year, to keep up my skills. The rest of the time I work as a legal nurse consultant and as an IV nurse educator.
So, what's up with these new RNs in some (not all) ORs who don't scrub, and won't learn? To me, it's like doing only HALF your job, and leaving your colleagues who DO scrub left to do their share PLUS yours. I really want an answer to this.
One time I went to a job interview to see if I could pick up some occasional per diem work at a local OR. Just for this stupid little per diem job, in an OR that is not even a trauma center, and does pretty much just VERY basic surgeries (i.e., lap choles, arthroscopies, breast biopsies, TAH-BSOs--you get the picture--) I was interviewed by the director PLUS the "charge nurses" of those areas--that is, general surgery, GYN, and ortho--all new grads. Out of the blue, the director asked, during the course of the interview, "What makes you angry?" I said, "OR nurses who refuse to scrub." Every one of the charge nurses stared at the floor. I realized, then, that NONE of them could scrub, nor would they ever learn. I knew I wasn't going to be getting that job!!! (I also knew I did not WANT that job.)
The funny thing is, scrubbing is fun; sometimes, you really bust your a** running around circulating big cases and scrubbing is a very welcome break, where you can almost let your mind go on autopilot--well, you can if you know what you are doing. Those prima donna charge nurses never will.
Oh, by the way--I always take my OR travel assignments in California, and ALL the OR nurses in those facilities scrub and circulate all areas. Are California OR RNs just better, more well-rounded RNs than the RNs in the rest of the Western region? I don't live there, but I teach there quite a bit, (as well as doing the aforementioned annual travel assignment) and I am beginning to suspect that this just might be the case. What is the trend like in the rest of the country?
