OR Nurse Training Program

Considered a highly specialized area of nursing, Operating Room (OR) nurses are consistently in high demand. Rutland Regional has developed an intensely structured OR Nurse Training program, the only one in the state, that trains and graduates nurses to be OR-ready within nine months. The OR Training Program officially opened in June 2020 in a retrofitted classroom on West Street. This classroom simulates an actual OR and allows intensive training for multiple students at once. The OR Training Program, designed and run by the OR Nurse Educator, features instructors that include Rutland Regional surgeons and OR staff who represent a variety of specialties and introduce the nuances of particular procedures.

Next Cohort Will Start Winter of 2025

This program trains nurses to work within the OR specialty as a Scrub and Circulator. The program is held at our simulation center that incorporates simulation, virtual reality, and lecture into the specialty training program.

Email us with questions: OR Clinical Educator

General Training Program Information

The OR Nurse Training Program has been developed to prepare professional nurses for beginning level independent practice in the complex environment of the operating room. The course is designed to provide students with fundamental knowledge of the principles and practices upon which perioperative nursing is based.

This program trains nurses on both Scrub and Circulating roles.

• Scrub nurse: Before and during the procedure, the scrub prepares and provides required instruments to the surgeon while maintaining a sterile environment. After the procedure, the scrub ensures all items are sent for decontamination and sterilization.
• Circulating nurse: Immediately before, during, and immediately after the procedure, the circulator coordinates the patient care among all team members. Examples of these actions include but are not limited to assisting with equipment setup, and patient positioning, monitoring the sterile field.

Content is based on AORN guidelines. The following will be incorporated into the care planning for surgical patients:

Safety: Freedom from acquired physical injury
Physiologic responses: Physiologic responses to surgery are as expected
Behavioral responses: Knowledge about the perioperative process; Patient rights and ethics are supported

Specific content will include:

• Assessment of the surgical patient
• Basic principles of anesthesia
• Principles of aseptic technique
• Surgical positioning
• Electro surgery
• Skin preparation
• Sterilization
• Hemostasis
• Legal & ethical responsibilities

Program Activities (In-Class)

• Completion of Instrument Written and skills test
• Skills Competencies completion
• Scrubbing, Gowning, and Gloving
• Supply Opening
• Back Table Set Up
• Counting
• Documenting
• Prepping
• Draping
• Critical Thinking Scenario