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Article: Implementation of the RN first assistant role.
- Article from:
- AORN Journal
- Article date:
- January 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Operating room nurses began to function as first assistants during World War II when there was a shortage of qualified surgeons and residents.(1) Through the years, the role of RNs as assistants to surgeons has continued to evolve. Today, as managed care contractors seek to provide surgical care at reduced costs, removing the second surgeon from the surgical field and replacing him or her with a nurse first assistant has been advocated as a cost-saving measure.
Norfolk, Va, and its surrounding communities are known as Tidewater. The region has a surgical assistant training program, but few RNs are graduates of this program. Trainees from the Tidewater surgical ...