Perioperative Assistant -OPP Surgery

Overview

Perioperative Assistant role supporting the Surgical Services team with patient care, instrument and supply handling, and intra-departmental coordination in the Operating Rooms and sterile core.

• Assists with direct patient care under the direction of the Nursing Staff
• Assists nursing personnel in transferring patients to and from OR tables, beds, wheelchairs, stretchers, or carts
• Assists nursing personnel in conducting postmortem care and transports deceased patients to the morgue
• Attends respiratory and cardiac codes and assists physicians, anesthesia, and nurses as needed with patient care
• Transports patients from units and various areas (ER, SVTU, ASHU, SINI, MICCU, PICU, SCN, etc.)
• Gathers necessary items for transportation of the patient post-operatively to the unit or PACU (e.g., oxygen tanks, monitors, masks, ambu bags)
• Assists with patient positioning and safety; supports regional anesthesia by holding the patient for spinal/epidural blocks
• Assists nursing personnel in surgical preps by holding affected extremities; performs surgical shaves for surgery patients
• Answers phones and communicates information to Operating Room staff as needed
• Ensures the Surgery area is stocked and supplied to meet patient and Nursing staff needs

• Restocks sterile supply areas in Surgery not stocked by Materials Management; rotates items as needed
• Maintains orderly supply carts; cleans carts as directed
• Ensures fluids and blankets are placed in warmers; marks containers with expiration dates and replenishes as needed
• Ensures Operating Rooms are fully stocked daily and as needed
• Fills and stores specimen containers in the sterile core
• Monitors sterile items on tickie carts and notifies Sterile Processing to replace missing items
• Returns trays to storage areas from Sterile Processing; maintains stock of forms in sterile core and Holding Room areas
• Performs general housekeeping in work areas to maintain cleanliness and order
• Participates in preparation of Operating Rooms/Case Carts; removes case carts from sterile core to appropriate area
• Reviews surgeon preference cards to ensure items/equipment are present; rectifies deficiencies with Circulating Nurse as directed
• Assists with OR room setup, gathering equipment, and opening sterile supplies using aseptic technique
• Monitors open sterile fields during delays; returns sterile supplies to Sterile Processing or sterile core area as indicated
• Operates autoclaves; retrieves and transports sterilized items to OR rooms
• Assists nursing personnel in end-of-case cleanup and transports case carts to the dirty utility room
• Ensures all suction canisters have solidifying agent before placing on cart
• Transports patients, supplies, and equipment safely to and from the Operating Rooms
• Obtains beds and returns beds from all PCCs; ensures carts are complete and ready for use
• Transports surgical specimens including frozen sections to Pathology; obtains morgue cart and returns as indicated

• Delivers surgery equipment to Patient Care Centers
• Transports blood products, Laboratory/Pathology reports, Radiology films, and other patient-related information to ORs and designated areas; logs blood in the blood refrigerator log book and specimens in the pathology log book
• Delivers supply items and equipment within Surgery; obtains supplies and equipment from other areas as needed
• Participates in maintenance of the Surgery Department

• Runs routine biological testing of autoclaves on weekends; maintains blood refrigerator in sterile core and communicates with nursing staff or charge RN when blood products have not been returned to the Blood Bank within 24 hours
• Maintains inventory of CO2 gas tanks and ensures gauges/keys are available for oxygen tanks; monitors and records temperature for liquid nitrogen freezer on weekends
• Performs routine cleaning, disinfection, and restocking of OR areas; ensures proper labeling and handling of chemicals and solutions
• Performs point-of-care testing (GEM ABGs) as needed; maintains sterile core refrigerator temperatures and autoclave records