Operating Room Nursing

1. Organizations
1. AORN Association of OR Nurses' OR Standards, OR nursing resources, information on RN First Assisting, patient information
2. Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada Canadian Operating Room Nursing Journals, Canadian Post Basic OR Programs Certification-The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA)Program, CORL (Canadian Operating Room Leadership Network, Educational Resources, Position Statements, Provincial OR Nursing Web Sites, Recommended Standards for Perioperative Nursing, RN First Assistant, Canadian
3. Certification Board Perioperative Nursing CNOR and CRNFA certification exams; Objectives and purposes of certification; preparatory courses for certification exams
4. American Society of Perianesthesia Nurses ambulatory surgery, preanesthesia, and postanesthesia care, position statements, patient education
5. PERIOP, electronic forum for Perioperative/OR/Theatre Nurses WorldWide; the list has nearly 1300 subscribers, representing 13 countries over 5 continents. It processes 50+ messages each day. It allows rural or isolated OR nurses to network with their peers and get opinions and answers to their questions. It introduces North American nurses to healthcare in other parts of the world, and lets nurses from that world listen in on our concerns. The List Processor is at the University of Washington. List owners are Bob Baxter RN, CNOR, a staff nurse at Providence Everett Medical Center in Everett, Washington, David Bowen, Senior Computer Specialist working for the Department of Nursing at the University of Washington

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2. Books
1. Alexander's Care of the Patient in Surgery
2. AORN Standards, Recommended Practices, and Guidelines 2003
3. Berry & Kohn's Operating Room Technique
4. Preoperative Nursing chapter 18 in Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing, 10th Edition, Suzanne C. O'Connell Smeltzer EdD, RN, FAAN; Brenda G. Bare RN, MSN
5. Responding to the Needs of the Perioperative Client Chapter 30 in Fundamentals of Nursing, Standards and Practices Second Edition, Author: Sue C. DeLaune; Patricia K. Ladner; ISBN#: 0766824527; Published: 1/17/2002 by Delmar Learning
6. General Surgery, by Gary Allen and Bob Caruthers, Delmar Healthcare text, discussing
1. Anatomy, physiology and pathology of the abdominal wall, digestive system, hepatic and biliary system, pancreas, spleen, thyroid, and breast
2. Preoperative diagnostic procedures and tests
3. Preoperative preparation of the patient
4. Names and uses of general surgery instruments, special equipment, supplies, and drugs
5. Intraoperative preparation of the patient
6. Description, purpose and expected outcomes of general surgery
7. Immediate postoperative care and possible complications
8. Variations of the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative care of the general surgery patient
3. Surgical first assisting resources
1. Emedicine characteristics of sutures and suture needles, may require free registration to access
2. Wound Closure
1. Ethicon wound closure manual including principles of wound healing, tissue strength and suture and suture needle selection
2. Wound closure materials emedicine skin closure suture and needle selection, may require free registration to access
3. Wound closure technique emedicine Plastic Surgery, may require free registration to access
4. Boston University School of Medicine Wound Closure and Wound Healing
5. Wound Healing Manual University of South Florida
3. Knot Tying
1. Ethicon knot tying manual including types of knots, how to tie them and suture and needle selection
2. Davis + Geck Surgical Knot Tying Manual by: Anderson & Romfh
3. Surgical knot tying Peter Suber, Department of Philosophy, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, 47374, U.S.A.

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4. Cleaning, Disinfecting and Sterilizing Surgical Instruments
1. Sterile Processing Certification Program Newsletters
2. Central Service Indiana Purdue University's Self-Directed Learning Programs


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3. Special Types of Infections
1. Role of Central Service in Nosocomial (Hospital-Acquired) Infections
2. Drug-Resistant Microorganisms
3. Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
4. Endoscopes
1. Care and Handling of Surgical Scopes
2. Rigid Endoscopes
3. Flexible endoscopes
4. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology July 2003 Shea Position Paper Multi-society Guideline for Reprocessing Flexible Gastrointestinal Endoscopes Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC), 1275 K Street, NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005-4006, telephone: 202-789-1890, fax: 202-789-1899, e-mail: APICinfo@apic.org
5. Motorized Handpieces
6. Legal Issues: Reuse of Single Use Devices
7. Latex Allergies for Central Service Personnel
5. Greater Glasgow UK Decontamination of Equipment and the Environment (Including the Use of Single-use and Single-patient Use Items)

1. University Texas Medical Branch
   Maintaining a Sterile Field in the Surgical Operating Suite,
   Notification of OR Personnel Regarding Shortage of Blood Availability,
   Follow up Phone Call Policy,
   Pre-Anesthesia Testing Assessment, Day Surgery Unit,
   D.S.U. Scheduling of Patients,
   Discharge and Transport of Patients from the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU),
   Use and Care of Endoscopes,
   Gowning and Gloving in the Surgical Operating Suite,
   Information Management, Perioperative,
   Instrumentation: Cleaning, Processing, Sterilization, Disinfection, Storing (See UTMB Infection Control Manual),
   Disposition of Metal Fragments,
   Overnight Patients in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU),
   Perioperative Nursing Intervention in the Holding Area,
   Pathology Specimens,
   Use of the Pneumatic Tourniquet in the Surgical Operating Suite,
   Positioning of Surgical Patients,
   Preoperative Requirements for Surgical Cases
   Preparing a Patient for Surgery (see 7.12.24)*information is text reference*,
   Environmental Cleaning of Surgical Operating Suite Rooms and Equipment,
   Scheduling Of Patients For Surgical Procedures,
   Surgical Counts,
   Care of Steam Autoclaves,
   Steam Sterilization of Items in OR (See Healthcare Epidemiology),
   Sterile Supplies, Shelf Life of (See Healthcare Epidemiology policy 1.8),
   Surgical Hand Scrub,
   Surgical Skin Preparation,
   Surgical Tissue Banking in OR,
   Family Visiting in the Surgical Operating Suite,
   Peracetic Acid Sterilization,
   Monitoring of the Sterilization Process,
   Care and Cleaning of Surgical Instruments and Powered Equipment,
   Flash Sterilization in Perioperative Practice Setting,
   Using Medical Alert Bracelet for Patients Undergoing Vitrectomy with Placement of Perfluoropropane or Sulfur Hexafluoride Gas Bubble,
   Patient Identification and Surgical Site Verification in the Operating Room,
   Labeling and Dispensing of Medications on the Sterile Field During Surgical Intervention,
   Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Calling a Code in the Surgical Operating Suite,
   Traffic Patterns in the Operating Room


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2. OR Policies and Competencies 4nursingmanagers.com
3. OR Competencies for RNs and Surg Techs compiled by Renee Hughes and OR Policies compiled by Kurt Kremmert, RN, CNOR, both from San Antonio Chapter of AORN

1. Anesthesia Patient Safety to promote safe anesthesia patient care through public education includes content about anesthesia, medication complications, and conscious sedation
2. Malignant hyperthermia information from the Malignant Hyperthermia Association of the United States, information about and resources to help manage this rare but potentially rapidly fatal complication of anesthesia

1. Johns Hopkins pediatric pre-op questionnaire
2. Johns Hopkins NPO guidelines adults and children patient hand-out format

1. Ethicon DERMABOND™ Topical Skin Adhesive, Absorbable Sutures, Non-Absorbable Sutures, Surgical Mesh, Wound Drains, PROXI-STRIP* Skin Closures, Adjustable Retention Suture Bridge, Bone Wax, Polypropylene Buttons, Retention Suture Bolster, Umbilical Tape, Suture carts and racks, TFE Polymer Pledgets
2. Ethicon Endo-Surgery
3. Ethicon surgical staplers
4. US Surgical Davis & Geck
1. Sutures
1. Surgipro and Surgipro II polypropylene nonabsorbable monofilament sutures
2. Novafil nonabsorbable synthetic polybutester monofilament sutures
3. Vascufil coated nonabsorbable synthetic polybutester monofilament sutures
4. Dexon II coated braided synthetic absorbable sutures
5. Dexon S uncoated braided synthetic absorbable sutures
6. Polysorb coated, braided synthetic absorbable sutures
7. Maxon monofilament synthetic absorbable
8. Caprosyn monofilament synthetic rapidly absorbable sutures
9. Biosyn synthetic absorbable sutures
10. Dermalon monofilament nylon
11. TiCron/Surgidac braided nonabsorbable polyester sutures
12. Sofsilk silk sutures
2. Surgical Accessories DEXON* Mesh,
   SURGIPRO* MONO-filament Polypropylene Mesh,
   SURGIPRO* MULTI-filament Polypropylene Mesh,
   SURGIPRO* OPEN Weave Polypropylene Mesh,
   SURGIPRO* Hernia-Mate* plug and patch,
   Cardiovascular Pledgets,
   Polyester Tape,
   Cotton Umbilical Tape, Round,
   Retention Suture Bolster,
   Suture Racks
3. Kendall veterinary catalog, contains extensive diagrams and charts of Ethicon, Davis & Geck and US Surgical needle equivalents
5. Auto Suture
6. Gore-tex® suture
7. Genzyme suture sold by Snowden Pencer
8. Tyco Valley Lab LigaSure bipolar cautery

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