Intraoperative Nursing Care

Summary

This video tutorial delves into the critical role of intraoperative nursing, detailing the responsibilities from patient reception to recovery room transfer. It covers the collaborative efforts of the surgical team, including the surgeon, scrub tech, circulating nurse, and anesthesiologist, to ensure patient safety, privacy, and effective care. The tutorial also highlights the importance of aseptic techniques, patient preparation, anesthesia administration, and the nurse's role in managing the patient's physiological and psychological needs during surgery.

Takeaways

• 🏥 The intraoperative nurse is responsible for the patient's care from the time they are moved onto the OR bed until they are transferred to the recovery room or PACU.
• 🔍 Perioperative nursing includes preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases of a patient's surgical journey, with this tutorial focusing on the intraoperative phase.
• 👨‍⚕️ The surgical team consists of the primary surgeon, assistants, scrub tech/nurse, circulating nurse, and anesthesiologist, each with specific roles to ensure patient safety and effective care.
• 📋 The circulating nurse has multiple responsibilities including coordinating patient care, providing emotional support, ensuring patient safety, and maintaining sterile technique.
• 🏢 The OR environment is designed to minimize contamination and infection risk, with controlled temperature, humidity, and materials that are easy to clean.
• 🧼 Aseptic technique is crucial in the OR to prevent surgical site infections, with guidelines provided by AORN for maintaining sterility.
• 👔 Surgical attire is mandatory to reduce the risk of surgical site infections and protect personnel from hazardous substances and infectious microorganisms.
• 🚿 Patient skin preparation is a critical step in preventing infection, involving thorough showering with antiseptic wash and careful cleaning of the incision site.
• ⏱️ The 'time-out' is a crucial procedure verification step involving the entire surgical team to confirm patient identity, site, and procedure before starting the surgery.
• 💊 The intraoperative nurse must understand the types of anesthesia, their administration methods, side effects, and complications to effectively assist the anesthesia team.
• 🌡️ The nurse plays a vital role in managing the patient's body temperature during surgery, using measures to prevent hypothermia or hyperthermia.

Q & A

What is the role of an intraoperative nurse?

An intraoperative nurse is responsible for the care of the patient from the time they are moved onto the OR bed until they are transferred to the recovery room nurse or postanesthesia care unit.

What is the difference between 'intraoperative nursing' and 'perioperative nursing'?

'Intraoperative nursing' refers specifically to the care of the patient during surgery, while 'perioperative nursing' encompasses the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases of the patient’s surgical experience.

What are the main responsibilities of the circulating nurse in the OR?

The circulating nurse is responsible for coordinating patient care, providing emotional support, ensuring patient safety, positioning and monitoring the patient, enforcing policies and procedures, maintaining sterile technique, documenting nursing care, and communicating relevant information outside the OR.

What is the purpose of the 'time out' in the OR?

The 'time out' is a verbal agreement among the surgical team to verify the correct patient identity, correct site, and correct procedure to be performed, ensuring patient safety and accuracy in the surgical process.

How does the OR environment contribute to patient safety?

The OR environment is designed to minimize contamination and infection by using materials that are easy to clean, maintaining a controlled temperature and humidity, and limiting traffic to reduce air turbulence and bacterial shedding.

What are the key components of aseptic technique in the OR?

Aseptic technique involves maintaining a sterile field, using sterile drapes and items, transferring items in a way that maintains sterility, and ensuring all personnel adhere to practices that prevent contamination from pathogens.

Why is surgical attire important in the OR?

Surgical attire is crucial to reduce the patient’s risk of surgical site infection from microorganisms and to protect personnel from exposure to hazardous substances and infectious microorganisms.

What is the significance of patient skin preparation in the OR?

Patient skin preparation is important to reduce the risk of infection by involving thorough showering with antiseptic wash, hair removal from the surgical site when necessary, and cleaning the incision site with skin antiseptic.

What are the three main types of anesthesia used in surgery?

The three main types of anesthesia are local, regional, and general anesthesia, each providing different levels of sensation and consciousness control during surgery.

What are the potential risks associated with spinal anesthesia?

Risks of spinal anesthesia include hypotension, inadvertent high level of anesthesia causing respiratory arrest and complete paralysis, neurologic complications, spinal headache, and infection.

How does an intraoperative nurse assist with anesthesia?

The intraoperative nurse assists the anesthesiologist by providing support during anesthesia induction and emergence, being aware of anesthetic types and potential side effects, and ensuring patient safety and comfort during these processes.