Role of the Scrub Nurse in Eye Surgery

A scrub nurse assists the surgeon and assistants during eye surgery by keeping track of instruments sponges and sutures, giving surgeons the instruments they require and maintaining the sterile field.

Requirements

• Scrub nurses, who work in hospitals or surgical centers, must be well-educated in all aspects of ocular anatomy and physiology.

Maintaining Sterile Field

• The scrub nurse is responsible for keeping the sterile field around the patient and surgeon from being breached. For eye surgery, this means keeping other operating room team members from getting too close to the patient's face.

Medications

• Scrub nurses are responsible for properly preparing drugs that will be injected into the eye, making sure that no air is left in the syringe before the injection.

Instrumentation

• Scrub nurses are responsible for placing all instruments required on the sterile field, counting the instruments before, during and after surgery and handing instruments to the surgeons during surgery. The scrub nurse must know the names of all instruments and anticipate what the surgeon will need next.

Sutures

• Scrub nurses take out the correct sutures and needles, load them onto the needle holders, hand them to the surgeon and make sure none is lost during the surgery.