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Cover patients with surgical drapes to create and maintain a sterile operative field.
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Insert or remove urinary bladder catheters.
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Apply sutures, staples, clips, or other materials to close skin, facia, or subcutaneous wound layers.
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Adjust and maintain operating room temperature, humidity, or lighting, according to surgeon's specifications.
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Pass instruments or supplies to surgeon during procedure.
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Transport patients to operating room.
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Maintain an unobstructed operative field, using surgical retractors, sponges, or suctioning and irrigating equipment.
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Determine availability of necessary equipment or supplies for operative procedures.
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Discuss with surgeon the nature of the surgical procedure, including operative consent, methods of operative exposure, diagnostic or laboratory data, or patient-advanced directives or other needs.
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Coordinate with anesthesia personnel to maintain patient temperature.
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Clamp, ligate, or cauterize blood vessels to control bleeding during surgical entry, using hemostatic clamps, suture ligatures, or electrocautery equipment.
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Assist in applying casts, splints, braces, or similar devices.
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Obtain or inspect sterile or non-sterile surgical equipment, instruments, or supplies.
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Postoperatively inject a subcutaneous local anesthetic agent to reduce pain.
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Monitor and maintain aseptic technique throughout procedures.
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Gather, arrange, or assemble instruments or supplies.
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Prepare and apply sterile wound dressings.
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Operate sterilizing devices.
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Assist in the insertion, positioning, or suturing of closed-wound drainage systems.
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Coordinate or participate in the positioning of patients, using body stabilizing equipment or protective padding to provide appropriate exposure for the procedure or to protect against nerve damage or circulation impairment.
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Assist with patient resuscitation during cardiac arrest or other life-threatening events.
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Incise tissue layers in lower extremities to harvest veins.
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Assess skin integrity or other body conditions upon completion of the procedure to determine if damage has occurred from body positioning.
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Remove patient hair or disinfect incision sites to prepare patient for surgery.
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Verify the identity of patient or operative site.
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Assist members of surgical team with gowning or gloving.
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Monitor patient intra-operative status, including patient position, vital signs, or volume and color of blood.
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Assist in volume replacement or autotransfusion techniques.