Specialty Surgical Nursing: Roles, Responsibilities, and Safety Measures

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NRSG 2
Module 1
A surgical nurse is a special nurse who is highly trained to multitask and maintain a
calm nature while providing the post-operative care. A surgical nurse at any given point is
tasked with taking care of several patients, leading the health team, discharging patients,
educating families, and administering medication (Black,& Hawks, 2009). Such duties
require the surgical nurse to be emotionally, intellectually, clinically and physically alert, as
they are required to staying calm, manage robust situations, and portray vast knowledge in
disease management. Moreover, they need to have a high level of critical thinking (Aleman,
de Gea, &Mondéjar, 2011).
A specialist surgical nurse is a registered nurse who has advanced in the field of
nursing and specialized in providing postoperative care. The specialist surgicalnurse is
expected to provide response treatment to patients and advice the patient regarding a certain
condition. A specialist nurse is required to have attained training to make complex decisions
and have expansive skills in the nursing practice as well as competency (LeMone, et. al.,
2015). For one to be a specialist surgical nurse, one is required to graduate with have a
masters or doctorate level of education. Such a level of education helps the nurses to provide
leadership ensure the quality of patient outcome. A specialty surgical nurse has the
prescriptive authority, which allows them to provide pharmacological and non-
pharmacological treatment (Rosdahl, & Kowalski, 2012). The nurse applies the necessary
skills and knowledge in developing a differential diagnosis, as well as performing a
comprehensive health assessment. Moreover, the nurse can order tests from the laboratory in
the process of determining the patient’s problem. The specialty nurse acts as a researcher, a
consultant, and an advocate to the patient

NRSG 3
However, the special surgical nurse isunique compared to other special nurses. The
uniqueness of a special surgical nurse stems from the need to be ready for the patients since
different patients undergo different surgical procedures(Brunner, 2010). Special surgical
nurses are therefore required to familiarize with the workings of all body systems as well as
various illnesses. In addition, they undertake the transition of patients and ensure they get to
their home safely(Jokiniemi, et.al., 2012)..
Safety concerns that are associated with a specialist surgical nurse include, ensuring
that the environment is maintained safe, which goes a long way to express compassion and
vigilance for the welfare of the patient. A surgical nurse ensures that the patient is attended in
a safe environment by ensuring that medical errors such as, wrong procedure and retained
foreign objects are avoided (Ignatavicius, & Workman, 2015). Moreover, the nurse goes a
step further to ensure that the patient to be attended to is the right one and there is no
information mix-up.Specialty surgical nurses are required to observe the following
procedures as stipulated by the universal protocol in the joint commission credential manual:
 Verification of procedure
This step helps to ensure that the nurse has availed the relevant documents
information as well as the equipment for the surgical procedure
(Halligan,&Zecevic, 2011).
 Marking the operative site
This measure entails marking the incision or insertion site, including those
sites that might lower the quality of safety during the procedure. However,
there is no need of marking the site when the bilateral structures such as
ovaries have been removed. Moreover, the markings should be ambiguous and
the correct areas should be marked with an “X” (Lewis, et. al., 2016).