RN's scrubbing in🙄
Hey guys so im in the DMV area and graduated in 2025. I had a hard time finding a job as a Surgical Tech (who would a thought!) So I have been working as a rep for close to a year. I work with major hospitals in the area and pretty peeved at what I've witnessed.🤬 Id say about 65% of the time its been RN's circulators scrubbing into cases. I was at a facility in VA awhile ago and was surprised to see a circulator being trained from scratch! Knew nothing about the instruments nothing about how they worked,had to walked through every single step. I heard alot of hospitals say not enough experience or shortage of preceptors which is what I took as the reason I haven't found a job. But they are willing to hand hold an RN with VERY different training to scrub. Hospitals now can pay RNS a little more to scrub & circulate instead of paying a whole different salary & hiring a tech. Im pretty pissed and its a slap in the face to the degree and certifications we worked hard to get. As a result I've seen more contamination errors, confusion,longer surgeries by them treating surgical technology like its interchangeable with nursing. Im sitting with a degree I have not been able to use while RN's are being trained in an area they never received a degree for. If Surgical Techs can't circulate and do paperwork why can RN's scrub?? Why are hospitals requiring CST certifications but allowing RN'S to scrub cardiac,ortho,neuro,urology,GYN cases without having to go thru the testing,schooling and training that Surgical Techs do? If something isn't done now then the field of Surgical Technology is at risk.As if they dont have a big enough shortage of nurses now they have them taking the jobs and duties of a whole other profession..thoughts?