My First Open-Heart Surgery Assist

I am one of many nurses who earned a second degree in nursing. I have a bachelor’s in violin performance, but after exploring different healthcare opportunities, I decided that nursing is my calling. In nursing school, very few of my classmates had interest in OR nursing. One of my clinical instructors didn’t respect OR nurses, and I received comments that OR nurses don’t do “real nursing.” I didn’t care. When I volunteered at an ambulatory surgery center, the charge nurse let me shadow surgeries in the OR, and my heart was set on applying to a new graduate perioperative RN program. I was very lucky that I was accepted into a perioperative training program right after graduating from nursing school at a big academic center. Even though my first nursing job was very challenging, I learned a lot in my new grad RN program. Nursing school doesn’t teach you to become an OR nurse, so the training program was longer than other new grad programs.

Which leads me to one of my most memorable stories.

One of my most interesting jobs was working the evening shift at a community hospital with a large population of Asian-Americans. I spoke Mandarin with most patients, and I also gained very valuable experiences. Our hospital did not have a specialized open-heart team. One evening, the cath lab called the OR and the minimally invasive cath lab procedure turned into an open-heart surgery right in the cath lab. I was not trained in open heart surgery, but my other colleagues were.

It was very chaotic and obviously we did not have time to count any instruments, sharps, or sponges. I felt the adrenaline, and with just under a year of experience under my belt, it was an unforgettable experience. My charge nurse and I were both circulator nurses that evening and I helped bring surgery equipment and supplies from the OR to the cath lab.  The cardiac surgeon was inspiring, she was my height at 5'1", operating on a step stool, and handled the emergency surgery calmly. The surgery finished, and the patient was transferred to the ICU. I heard that the patient died a few days later, but I will always remember that we did our best to save the patient's life. I never met the patient's family, but I hope that we made a difference so that the patient family said goodbye to their loved one.