Circulating and scrubbing . If you circulate you need to be able to prioritize and multitask abs be a very good communicator to anesthesia , perhaps blood bank , laboratory, pathology, radiology and surgical team. You need to listen carefully to the surgical team and stay one step ahead of them to anticipate their needs and secure a good patient outcome m.
Patient advocate
First assistant to anesthesiologist
Audio-visual expert
Troubleshooter
Mentor
Teacher
Satellite public relations lead
Safety monitor
Medical-legal documentation expert
Charge nurse
Policy writer
Lecturer/speaker
Role model
You are the last defense for the patient and make sure everything is correct. Your roles are different being in a hospital, or with a union or ambulatory.
Slower pace versus fast pace, just nursing versus everything ! It’s EVS, nursing, materials, just the whole 9 yard. Learning OR is easier in the hospital, just focusing on one thing.
An OR nurse can be the scrub nurse who hands instruments, circulates around the room and gets them things they need during the surgery and does the counts of sponges and instruments with the scrub nurse. Some OR nurses are even trained to assist the Dr. with the surgery.
Patient Advocate
Strict Organizer/Planner
Team member
Sterility champion
Equipment Manager
Technical Advisor
Circulating and scrubbing cases supervising other employees,QI,know the standards… documentation, preop. Communicating with all disciplines.
You can also be a first assist
OR nurses work as circulators in the OR where the facility has surgical techs but can combine the work if no surgical techs is available.some are made to head CSSD , some head PACU and pre-op areas.
The answers here are excellent, and I agree with them. I also want to point out that we are first and foremost the patient’s advocate. We speak up on the pts behalf if something isn’t right. As RN’s we are their last line of defense prior to the procedure. Don’t be afraid to question things or speak up for your pt!
Cir
Circulator
Preceptor
Scrub nurse
Patient’s advocate
Charge nurse
Pre and postop nurse in a surgical center
You can also be a crna
You can also be a supervisor
You can either scrub or circulate
