Orderlies and aides merging into O.R. attendants

It was always my belief that perioperative nurses should be in the operating room performing nursing duties, not in the role of cleaning instruments and picking tables. New technology introduced over the past decade required longer schedules for nurses and the introduction of additional support staff. Because of the longer schedules, it became more cost effective to hire support staff to assist nurses in non-nursing functions. Recently, I was involved in a program which reorganized one aspect of our OR department and merged two existing support positions into one. Using ORNAC standards, CAS standards and CSS standards, I accepted the challenge of organizing the supplies of the department, merging orderlies and aides into one support group, training and documenting the important assignments given to this group and orienting staff to this new role.