Quote Originally Posted by kbtravel View Post
Hi, I sometimes have the opportunity to scrub but not often unfortunately because I love to scrub. Most hospitals use surgical techs for scrub role but a few hospitals have all RN's for scrub and circulate roles.
I was a scrub tech [CST] for three years. Upon completing ADN & passing NCLEX I left the OR to work 64 bed Telemetry Unit at the same Medical Center. Then, went to work in the ICU at another Medical Center. A few years later ended up back at the same OR where I was a scrub tech. They gave me more stable hours while going through RN-BSN program. I worked in the OR as an RN for over six years before going back to the ICU via the Army Nurse Corps.

As an OR RN, I would often scrub in when we were short of techs had enough Circulators. Sometimes I would even be the primary scrub setting up the back table, mayo stand, and passing instruments. For those new scrub techs that did not know from the past it kind of freaked them out since most of the OR RNs rarely scrubbed in, and if they did it was usually only to retract.

I'm happy working in critical care these days but in another life it would have been cool to be an RN First Assist.