Perioperative nurses are registered nurses (RN) that help care for surgical patients before, during, and after surgery. Under the supervision of a licensed doctor, this health care professional assists patients and provides medications and therapy. Perioperative nurses also assist doctors in surgical procedures. Use this nursing career information to learn what kind of medical training you’ll need to prepare for a perioperative nursing job.
Here’s how to become a perioperative nurse.
- Responsibilities and Duties: The perioperative nurse will prepare the surgical suite to receive the patient or coordinate the preparation of the room. All the instruments needed for the case must be available before the case gets underway. Fluids that the anesthesiologist will need must be stocked; the suite itself must be surgically clean and ready to go. The nurse will greet and meet the patient and family prior to going to the surgical suite and make sure that the right patient, the right procedure, and the right surgical site (right kidney, left leg) are correctly identified. Procedures are explained and any questions are answered in the preoperative area before the patient goes back to the surgical suite. Once the patient is in the OR, the perioperative nurse helps with positioning of the patient and then assists during the operation according to their role. After the surgery is complete, the patient is transferred to the recovery room, and the surgical suite is readied for the next patient.
- Education: Before you can start working, you’ll need to undergo the proper nursing education. You will first have to earn your nursing degree from an accredited institution. You can get a degree in nursing two different ways from any school that is accredited to carry out the program by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, Inc.
- You can get a four-year degree with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from colleges or universities, where there is balance between theories and practical aspects of nursing.
- You can also get a two year associate degree in nursing (ADN) from community colleges that focus on practical and hands-on training.
- Licensure: To become a licensed nurse in the state you plan to work, you must pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) after completing your nursing degree.
- Experience: Because of the specialized nature of surgical nursing, most operating rooms (OR) do not take RNs until they have been practicing for a year or two. Experience can be gained by working in hospitals in either generalized floor nursing, in intensive care units (ICU) or in the emergency room (ER).
- Specialized Training: There are fellowships available for the perioperative nurse from some hospitals that are associated with universities. Others will use a mentoring system where the nurse will be paired with an experienced OR nurse to learn the necessary skills to be a perioperative nurse. There are two distinctly different nursing jobs in the OR. The circulating nurse is responsible for the nursing care of the patient in the OR and also acts as the patient’s advocate while they are under anesthesia. They are not scrubbed in but work closely with the team to maintain a safe environment. The scrub nurse works directly with the surgeon and as the name implies, is scrubbed in to hand the surgeon sterile instruments and assist as needed. Instruments and any materials used in the surgical area such as sponges are counted and re-counted to make sure nothing is left in the surgical field that should not be there at the conclusion of the operation. Training takes at least one year and nurses may specialize in certain areas such as orthopedics or cardiac surgery.
- Credentials: CNOR is the credential granted by the Competency and Credentialing Institute (CCI). CNOR is not an acronym but it is well recognized in perioperative nursing. To be eligible to take the exam, candidates must have at least two years of perioperative experience. After the exam is passed, there are requirements to keep the certification current.
- Salary: The median salary is $67,000 with nurses in larger facilities and those who specialize making a higher income.
- Job Outlook: Nursing jobs are holding steady at this time. Specialized jobs in nursing such as perioperative nursing are expected to increase by about 20% in the next 15 years.
Perioperative nursing is a challenging career that puts you in the front line of healthcare. The learning opportunities are vast and the reward is fantastic. The opportunities are always there, since as long as there are surgeons and operating rooms, there will always be a necessity for perioperative nurses.