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