If you or someone you love has had a surgical procedure, a perioperative registered nurse like Marissa Lawton would have been responsible for your/their well-being throughout the operation.
Marissa explained periop nurses provided specialised nursing care to surgical patients before, during, and after surgery.
“Collectively the perioperative nursing team advocate for the patient’s right to safety, dignity, privacy, informed consent and respect during their perioperative journey,” she said.
As the Logan Hospital Perioperative team celebrated Perioperative Nurses Week this week, we asked Marissa to take us through a simplified day-in-the-life of a scrub and scout nurse, assisting surgeons during surgery.
She said a typical workday started with a scrum - a meeting where her team discussed theatre lists and individual patient needs for the day.
"The team then completes set up and checks to make sure the theatres are ready to go.
“When I meet the patients, they have already been prepared in surgical admissions, collected by the anaesthetic nurse and brought over to the theatre where the surgical team make their introductions,” Marissa said.
“Even though I know they won't remember me at the end, in that moment I don't like just being a stranger walking around them.”
As part of the surgical team, Marissa said she then assists the surgeon during the operation, and once the anaesthetic nurse woke the patient, they would hand over the patient to the recovery nurse. A process repeated for every patient.
The 2023 theme for Perioperative Nurses Week is H.E.A.R.T; Happiness, Empathy, Ask, Rest, Thanks.
Marissa said she aimed to lift people’s spirits during this week and was happy to report that many people had been involved with building a happiness wall in the unit and taking heart photos.
“We are really good at showing kindness and empathy to our patients, so this week we have been encouraging everyone to make the same effort with each other as well,” she said.