Speak out
First assistant can be advancement for staff nurse Do we want our name on the record of surgery as first assistant? My reply is a positive yes/no/maybe. How’s that for indecision? Apparently many nurses in the operating room have the same indecisive opinion, and the time is rapidly approaching when we will have to make a positive (choose one of the above) commitment. As a staff nurse who has no administrative ambitions, I find getting up and going to work every day satisfying and gratifying. I really enjoy my job. However, I do think that functioning in the role of first assistant would be even more stimulating “if” . . . and there are many questions that have vague, indefinite answers. Some of the ifs in my mind are if courses would be available regionally to those of us interested so we would be competent; if insurance coverage would be available and practical in premium and coverage; if the question, Who is responsible, the hospital or the medicaVsurgical staff? would be clarified; if the job change does not deplete the operating room staff of nurses functioning as RNs; if hospital administration would clearly define the first assistant’s duties, obligations, and functions.
Annabelle Mueller, RN, is an OR staff nurse at Victory Memorial Hospital, Waukegan, 111. She is a graduate of St Francis School of Nursing, Peoria, 111.
&I
In open discussion, members of our AORN chapter have come up with many pros and cons, which I’m sure happens whenever this subject is discussed by interested people, both lay and professional. I feel many experienced OR nurses would be capable of functioning as the first assistant in the operating room. Opening that door to RNs would give us a chance to advance, a remote possibility in surgery. After all, how many head nurses or assistant head nurses can one department have, and don’t all OR nurses die with their cap, mask, and booties on? Once we take root in the OR, few of us leave for a different area of nursing. In one state, Virginia, a policy has been adopted by the Joint Boards of Medicine and Nursing permitting RNs to first assist in the OR. Conceivably, more states will follow. Delegates to the AORN Congress approved a recommendation that the AORN Board of Directors study the concept of including the function of the first assistant in the role of the nurse practitioner in the operating room during the intraoperative phase of the nursing process. An ad hoc committee has already been appointed to begin study on nursing practices in the OR. One more if-if individuals other than physicians are going to be used in the OR in the first assistant role, why can’t it be the RN? Would ancillary personnel, such as physician’s assistants (who sometimes make higher salaries than just RNs), be a better alternative? If we can do a satisfactory job, why not give us a chance before the opportunity to involve ourselves has passed? Good idea? Equal or improved patient care? I hope yes. I’d like very much to try it, if the ifs can be answered.
Annabelle Mueller, RN
AORN Journal, July 1977,Vol26, No 1
Northwest Suburban Chicago Chapter
36
First assistant can be advancement for staff nurse Do we want our name on the record of surgery as first assistant? My reply is a positive yes/no/maybe. How’s that for indecision? Apparently many nurses in the operating room have the same indecisive opinion, and the time is rapidly approaching when we will have to make a positive (choose one of the above) commitment. As a staff nurse who has no administrative ambitions, I find getting up and going to work every day satisfying and gratifying. I really enjoy my job. However, I do think that functioning in the role of first assistant would be even more stimulating “if” . . . and there are many questions that have vague, indefinite answers. Some of the ifs in my mind are if courses would be available regionally to those of us interested so we would be competent; if insurance coverage would be available and practical in premium and coverage; if the question, Who is responsible, the hospital or the medicaVsurgical staff? would be clarified; if the job change does not deplete the operating room staff of nurses functioning as RNs; if hospital administration would clearly define the first assistant’s duties, obligations, and functions.
Annabelle Mueller, RN, is an OR staff nurse at Victory Memorial Hospital, Waukegan, 111. She is a graduate of St Francis School of Nursing, Peoria, 111.
&I
In open discussion, members of our AORN chapter have come up with many pros and cons, which I’m sure happens whenever this subject is discussed by interested people, both lay and professional. I feel many experienced OR nurses would be capable of functioning as the first assistant in the operating room. Opening that door to RNs would give us a chance to advance, a remote possibility in surgery. After all, how many head nurses or assistant head nurses can one department have, and don’t all OR nurses die with their cap, mask, and booties on? Once we take root in the OR, few of us leave for a different area of nursing. In one state, Virginia, a policy has been adopted by the Joint Boards of Medicine and Nursing permitting RNs to first assist in the OR. Conceivably, more states will follow. Delegates to the AORN Congress approved a recommendation that the AORN Board of Directors study the concept of including the function of the first assistant in the role of the nurse practitioner in the operating room during the intraoperative phase of the nursing process. An ad hoc committee has already been appointed to begin study on nursing practices in the OR. One more if-if individuals other than physicians are going to be used in the OR in the first assistant role, why can’t it be the RN? Would ancillary personnel, such as physician’s assistants (who sometimes make higher salaries than just RNs), be a better alternative? If we can do a satisfactory job, why not give us a chance before the opportunity to involve ourselves has passed? Good idea? Equal or improved patient care? I hope yes. I’d like very much to try it, if the ifs can be answered.
Annabelle Mueller, RN
AORN Journal, July 1977,Vol26, No 1
Northwest Suburban Chicago Chapter
36
