Surgical Technologist to RN: Here's What to Expect

1. An RN’s wider role in patient care

As a registered nurse, you’ll provide care that goes beyond surgery, featuring a broader set of duties and responsibilities. You’ll also assess patients’ unique health problems and needs and work with physicians to create care plans.

RNs also perform the following duties:

• Administer medications, treatments, and therapies as prescribed by healthcare providers
• Provide healthcare assessments, including patient evaluations and monitoring vital signs
• Develop and implement patient care plans in collaboration with the healthcare team
• Educate patients and their families about health conditions, treatments and self-care
• Advocate for patients' needs and coordinate resources for their care
• Document patient information accurately and maintain medical records
• Respond to emergencies and provide immediate interventions as needed
• Maintain a safe and clean environment for patients

While medical/surgical nursing is a key component of a nursing degree program, many types of RNs aren’t involved with surgery on a day-to-day basis. However, some RNs can specialize as surgical/scrub RNs and this may be of interest for surgical techs looking to take advantage of prior experience.

3. Certification and sub-specialties

After you’ve completed your degree, you will need to take the NCLEX-RN. This exam tests graduates on the application and analysis of the nursing knowledge they gained in school to certify that they are qualified to practice entry-level nursing.

Once you have earned your RN license, you can specialize in a focus area, such as medical-surgical nursing, and potentially pursue unique certification within that specialization. Nursing offers many potential pathways in terms of specialization, including surgical nursing.

Surgical nurses collaborate with surgeons and actively participate in surgery and procedures and may perform different roles. For example, one role is that of a scrub nurse—someone who directly manages key surgical instruments, as well as monitors patients and checks vital signs. Another role is that of a post-op nurse, who monitors patients as they awake from anesthesia. Each role helps ensure patients receive quality care before, during and after procedures.

5. Where RNs typically work

Both surgical technologists and registered nurses work in a variety of medical settings, including hospitals, surgical centers, and outpatient clinics. However, as an RN, you have the opportunity to work in a broader range of environments, including schools, government or public healthcare facilities, nursing homes, or even corporate settings.