Roles and Responsibilities of Nurses in Maintaining Patient Safety

This report outlines the critical roles and responsibilities of operating room nurses in maintaining patient safety during the intraoperative period. It focuses on the distinct roles of scrub nurses, who are responsible for providing sterile surgical instruments and postoperative care, and circulating nurses, who act as patient advocates and ensure overall patient safety and comfort, excluding sterile maintenance. The report emphasizes the importance of maintaining sterile conditions, preventing hematomas, and ensuring patient well-being throughout the surgical procedure. It highlights that nurses play a vital role in preparing patients for surgery and providing comprehensive care during and after the operation. Desklib provides access to this and many other solved assignments.

Role and Responsibilities of
Nurses

Table of Contents
Question 6.............................................................................................................................................2
References.............................................................................................................................................3
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Question 6
The term “intra-operative’’ has been used during the period of surgery of a patient.
Intraoperative acre is also known as patient care. Activities such as monitoring blood
oxygenation level, the patient's crucial signs, medicating transfusion, fluid therapy, laboratory
tests, radiography, and anesthesia are some general examples of intraoperative care. In the
case of intraoperative care, the nurses and the medical staffs have to do the work jointly.
Intraoperative care has been provided by the nurses, nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologists,
surgeons, and surgical technicians. They all have to perform their duty as a team. The main
purpose of the intraoperative care is to provide comfort to the patient during the surgery
(Kaska, 2010).Maintain patient safety is the main responsibility of the nurses. The prime
goals of intraoperative care are maintaining homeostasis during the period of procedure,
maintaining perfect sterile methods to reduce the chances of infection. The nurses have to
ensure that the patient on the operation table should be secure and safe. The nurses have to
take some measurement to prevent the hematomas.
During the period o surgery, the nurses are playing a vital role in the operating room. The
nurses have two different roles to maintain the patient safety and comfort in the operating
room. As per the responsibility of nurses in the operating room, nurse's roles can be divided
into two parts such as scrub nurse and circulating nurse. The scrub nurse can be called as the
primary caretaker of the patients. The scrub nurse provides the surgical instruments and
supplies the sterile to the main surgeon. The scrub nurses have to gain the proper knowledge
as they are responsible for the supplies of the surgical instruments and sterile. After the
surgery of the patient, the scrub nurse has to take care of the patient. On the other hand, the
circulating nurse is known as the advocate for the patients (Seyman & Ayaz, 2016). The main
responsibility of the circulating nurses has to look after the patients' safety, comfort, and
welfare. It can also be said that the circulating nurse is responsible for everything that is
related to the patient health except maintaining the sterile level. Maintain sterile level is the
responsibility of the scrub nurses. In a word, it can be said that the nurses have to prepare the
patient for surgery and after that, the nurses have to take care of that patient with care.
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References
Kaska, S. (2010). A standardized and safe method of sterile field maintenance during intra-
operative horizontal plane fluoroscopy. Patient Safety In Surgery, 4(1), 20. doi:
10.1186/1754-9493-4-20
Seyman, Ç., & Ayaz, S. (2016). Opinions of Operating Room Nurses Regarding Patient and
Staff Safety in Operating Room. Dicle Medical Journal / Dicle Tip Dergisi, 43(1).
doi: 10.5798/diclemedj.0921.2016.01.0630
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