OR Nurse/RNFA

[phluteloop]

Evening all.
I should introduce myself first.
My name is Chandra, I've been a CNA for five years, and I'm currently working towards my RN.
I've been lucky to work my way onto a Neuro ICU, and a GYN Oncology unit. I'm soaking up the experience!

I find myself on the forum completey engaged in all the conversations. Only recently have I had thoughts of medical school, and I thought reading first accounts of others going through the transition would prove I'm not as crazy as I think.

For now, continuing on with the nursing goals. I was just wondering if there were any OR nurses on board, and if any of them had any experience with first assist? I'm a totalwww.ORlive.com junky. I'm hungry for any surgical/OR/critical care experience.

This is all my mother's fault, you know. She made me watch "Operation." LOL

Also, is it common to see PA/NP's in the critical care setting (haven't seen many).

Short from becoming a surgeon, what are some other areas well-suited for someone with interests such as mine?

Thanks!
Chandra

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[2ndyear]

I'm not a nurse, but I am in the OR all day. To answer the question of PA/NP's in the ICU, yes there are a lot of them. Maybe not so many in academic hospitals (but this is changing since the 80 hour work week for residents), but in the real world you'll see a lot of them. I came from a hospital with large ICU's. The Cardiothoracic ICU was all PA run, as was half of the MICU. They did everything, take call, do lines, intubations, etc. Cardiac surgery PA's typically spend a lot of time in the OR as well as the unit. Lots of pretty delicate surgery harvesting veins, and then a lot of assisting sewing the vessels. These people are pretty specialized, but I'm sure it takes a while to become good at it. It can be painful watching anyone new, be it PA/NP or MD learn to do surgery. I don't think it would matter much as to PA or NP if you wanted to do this kind of stuff, but I could be wrong. I worked with PA surgical residents in med school. They did a 1 year surgery residency and got 11 months in the OR, 1 SICU. They were treated just like the MD residents and operated a lot. I think the reason for doing a residency would be to make yourself more marketable to surgeons. If you come with skills, that's less time getting up to speed while they are paying you.

 

[phluteloop]

Exciting info, thank you for sharing.

 

[albaniandoc]

I work in the OR, more specifically, open heart surgery. We have several RNFAs in our team. I have had this job for 2 yrs and love every minute of it.
In order to become an RNFA you must have at least two years of scrubbing experience and CNOR certification I believe. The RNFA program it's like an 8 month training that can be done while working. In order to become a CRNFA you have to have a BSN degree and take a certification exam.
Pm me if you need more info.
Good luck

 

[Sinnman]

I'm not a nurse, but I am in the OR all day. To answer the question of PA/NP's in the ICU, yes there are a lot of them. Maybe not so many in academic hospitals (but this is changing since the 80 hour work week for residents), but in the real world you'll see a lot of them. I came from a hospital with large ICU's. The Cardiothoracic ICU was all PA run, as was half of the MICU. They did everything, take call, do lines, intubations, etc. Cardiac surgery PA's typically spend a lot of time in the OR as well as the unit. Lots of pretty delicate surgery harvesting veins, and then a lot of assisting sewing the vessels. These people are pretty specialized, but I'm sure it takes a while to become good at it. It can be painful watching anyone new, be it PA/NP or MD learn to do surgery. I don't think it would matter much as to PA or NP if you wanted to do this kind of stuff, but I could be wrong. I worked with PA surgical residents in med school. They did a 1 year surgery residency and got 11 months in the OR, 1 SICU. They were treated just like the MD residents and operated a lot. I think the reason for doing a residency would be to make yourself more marketable to surgeons. If you come with skills, that's less time getting up to speed while they are paying you.

I think you're making a lot of generalizations here. What capacity do you work in where you can say stuff like "they were treated just like the MD residents."

I'm not trying to antagonize you but as someone who previously worked as a tech and an RN, things that seem one way to me before were a lot different as a medical student. I've worked in a LOT of hospitals and although I've seen PAs have a good bit of responsibility the notion "The Cardiothoracic ICU was all PA run, as was half of the MICU" seems laughable to me.

 

[guetzow]

Absolutely NP or PA. They both involve the perioperative settings as well, and by definition, more involvement in patient care management. RNFA is too limiting, and sooooo many people first assist now, that you need to prove your worth in multiple settings. Other than going full throttle to MD, Mid-level is the only way to do that.