Operating room nurses are a breed apart
Fast-paced environment drives interest
Victoria Holder has done a number of nursing jobs throughout her 21-year career, from palliative care to the emergency room. But what she’s really looking forward to is her newest venture in perioperative (operating room) nursing.
Holder, an emergency room nurse at Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa, loves to take on a challenge. So it’s no surprise that she decided to go through the perioperative nursing program at Algonquin College in Ottawa.
“In ER, we spend a lot of time preparing patients for surgery,” she says. “I thought it would be nice to see what goes on at the other end of things.”
Now that’s she’s completed her on-site training, what she appreciates most about the job is the opportunity to work with patients in their most vulnerable moments. “They’re trusting you to keep them safe and putting a lot of responsibility in your hands. It’s totally different from other nursing jobs.”
Having been in perioperative nursing for over 25 years, Karen Frenette, nurse manager, surgical suite at Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst, N.B., and president of Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada, says it’s the excitement of working in a fast-paced environment that drives her interest in the field. “I never get tired of that adrenalin rush.”
Nurses interested in the field typically need to complete a postgraduate program offered through a college or hospital, she says. Programs combine self-directed studies with on-site lab work in a simulated operating room environment, finishing off with a supervised practicum in a hospital operating room.
Algonquin College in Ottawa offers perioperative programs for both registered nurses (RNS) and registered practical nurses (RPNS). RNS can qualify as circulating or scrub nurses, while practical nurses are primarily trained for the scrub role.
The circulator serves as a manager in the OR, essentially responsible for the areas outside the sterile field (e.g. bringing in patients, assisting in the preparation, patient charting, etc.). Scrubs are responsible for things like the instruments and supplies inside the sterile field during surgical procedures.
Algonquin students are required to complete 344 hours of online training, as well as four hours of on-site lab work every two weeks, capped off with 150 hours of a clinical practicum, where they work in an actual operating room monitored by supervisors.
Some schools also offer specialty courses for nurses interested in moving into more advanced roles. A qualified registered first nurse assistant, for example, serves as a surgeon’s assistant, performing such jobs as closures and harvesting veins. Another specialty is an anesthesia assistant.
The key thing in perioperative nursing is that they really are part of a team and have to work with surgeons and anesthetists on an ongoing basis.