Scrub Nurse

Scrub nurse. Scrub nurses do a surgical scrub and go into the surgery with the surgical patient and doctors. They set up the operating room for the patient, ensure all the tools are sterile and ready to go, hand tools to the doctor during the surgery, and perform other duties inside the surgical room.

Circulating nurses. Circulating nurses are the ones a patient will meet with pre-procedure. This nurse will go over consent forms, answer questions about the procedure, do preoperative assessments, make sure the equipment is ready to go, and may update family members on the surgery status during the operation.

RN first assistants. These nurses work directly with doctors on the surgery, helping to control bleeding, watching for signs of complications, performing stitches, applying bandages, and more. They work directly with a doctor and give assistance in whatever way is needed during the actual surgery.