Can you describe typical day to day tasks an OR nurse does?

You prepare the room before patient is brought back (make bed, help scrub open the sterile field, grab meds, count the countables (blades, needles, etc), make sure you have all positioning aids in room. Once pt is brought back you’re helping anesthesia get them off to sleep. Then you prep the site, help tie up gowns, plug in cords to machines and then chart. During the procedure you get anything that surgeon needs extra (I.e. new blade, instruments, implants, etc). Some surgeries you can sit for hours and not get up for a single thing till the end. Then you’re doing a post procedure pause, updating PACU, transferring patient to PACU and then preparing for the next case.

I’m more of a visual person, so I’d recommend YouTubing something along the lines of “OR Nurse”, “A week in the life…” or “a day in the life…” or “pros and cons OR nursing”. The official title is “Circulating Nurse”—circulator for short.

For the most part it’s the same song and dance; with slight variations here and there, depending on the procedure. But ultimately… rinse and repeat: get the room read, research your patient, interview/introduce yourself to the patient, wheel them to the room, help them get on the OR table, help anesthesia hook up the monitors, do your pre induction time out, assist in putting the patient under. Then insert a foley if needed. Position the patient, prep the patients skin, help the surgeon gown up, help with draping and hooking up equipment, then do your official time out before the incision… then let them surgeon work away as you chart/and also attend to the needs of the room from time to time (collecting specimens etc). Once the surgeon is done, you help move the patient back to the gurney, notify PACU or ICU you’re on your way, then roll the patient to their destination… then start the process all over again. Maybe… 2-3 times for the day. If it’s Neuro… some times 1 case could last your entire shift.

In addition, checking that code carts are available and ready, dispensing medications, updating families, communicating with Preop and PACU, orienting new hires, flexing to ensure students have a meaningful intraoperative experience, monitoring/managing visitors, and assessing the intraoperative environment to assure environmental concerns are commensurate with patient safety.

There is no typical day in the OR. Your day depends on your assignment for that day. As you are more and more familiar with the different surgeries your will be more comfortable. As a general over view you will get your room ready for the first surgery. Getting ready would be making sure you have all of the items you need for that surgery.

I agree to the previous answers....to an extent. There are responsibilities that are repetitive across different patients and procedures, but then every patient and procedure AND surgeons have their own unique variables that continually challenge the OR staff. I have worked in Surgery for 46 years. My hospital closed recently and at 65 I found myself unemployed. I thought I would retire, but I just can't give it up. I have loved the OR since my first day and still feel that I have something to offer. It is physically and emotionally tough at times, but gives more satisfaction than some other areas