OR Assistant, Full-time, Evenings

Company Description

At Northwestern Medicine, every patient interaction makes a difference in cultivating a positive workplace. This patient-first approach is what sets us apart as a leader in the healthcare industry. As an integral part of our team, you'll have the opportunity to join our quest for better healthcare, no matter where you work within the Northwestern Medicine system. At Northwestern Medicine, we pride ourselves on providing competitive benefits: from tuition reimbursement and loan forgiveness to 401(k) matching and lifecycle benefits, we take care of our employees. Ready to join our quest for better?

Job Description

This position will require rotating shifts on weekends and holidays. A minimum 6-week orientation program will be provided which includes rotating shifts between 7a-3:30p/3p-11:30p and 11p-7:30a. After the orientation and validation of skills the employee will work on a permanent change of Tuesday to Saturday from 3p-11:30p with on-call requirements.

The OR Assistant reflects the mission, vision, and values of NM, adheres to the organization’s Code of Ethics and Corporate Compliance Program, and complies with all relevant policies, procedures, guidelines and all other regulatory and accreditation standards.

As a member of the surgical team, this role provides support services to the surgical patient, and OR team. The ORA is responsible for transporting patients post-operatively from the recovery room to Same Day Surgery and direct from the OR to nursing units as assigned. The ORA is responsible for additional functions including assisting in general cleaning, movement of equipment, specimen and blood products transport and assisting with patient care. This position promotes efficiency in the operating room for our surgical patients and the OR team.

Responsibilities:

• Surgical Specimens & Blood Products:
  • Transports specimens from OR to universal tube system and tubes to appropriate location
  • Logs each surgical pathology specimen into pathology log book recording time transported and initials
  • Responsible for specimen service requests sent by means of specimen pager in Feinberg OR
  • Responds to specimen pick-up requests immediately
  • Faxitron specimens are picked up from the OR and walked to radiology immediately for processing
  • Performs daily specimen reconciliation with pathology staff and reports for quality management
  • Receives blood products via universal tube system and direct from blood bank and places in blood refrigerator and delivers to OR suite as directed adhering to our reconciliation communication process
  • Picks up and returns blood refrigerator to and from blood bank as directed
  • Walks all surgical pathology tissue specimens direct from OR to path lab
  • Logs in book and performs handoff.
• CSS Responsibilities:
  • Transports soiled case carts to soiled lift and sends to CSS for re-sterilization
  • Operates clean case cart lift and removes clean case carts and instruments and delivers to appropriate OR suites.
• Surgical Patient & Belongings Transport:
  • Transports surgical patients
  • Assists in OR with patient lifting, positioning, and transfer as directed by nursing staff
  • Delivers SDS patient belongings to correct patient in recovery room and to nursing units as necessary.
• Equipment/Supplies:
  • Transports lasers, microscopes, and other OR equipment from storage areas, down multiple corridors to the appropriate OR suite and returns to equipment storage when no longer needed
  • Obtains supplies from warehouse pod cart and delivers to OR rooms
  • Consistently and frequently refills warmers with blankets and irrigation solutions to maintain supply
  • Replenishes scrub brushes, masks, and goggles as needed to maintain supply
  • Exchanges empty O2 tanks to full tanks as necessary on all patient stretchers and beds when below 1-PSI
  • Moves clean total joint/bariatric/clinitron and specialty beds from various locations and places outside of OR suites intra-operatively as directed and notifies control desk coordinator when task completed
  • Twists, stoops and bends to clean surgical stretchers as needed and thoroughly clean M-W-F
  • Operates copier and copies 4am surgical schedules as per 4am schedule list
  • Cleans each patient stretcher as necessary
  • Performs intra-op linen change on each stretcher outside of operating rooms
  • Docks Neptune suction machine after each use
  • Picks-up and returns supplies from other departments as needed
  • Identifies, isolates, communicates, and documents broken equipment for repair being specific as to identify the malfunction
  • Inventories/reports/replenishes forms when form levels are low in POD
  • Plac