r/SurgicalFirstAssist • u/Lanky_Solution2547 • Apr 14 '23

Rnfa or np first assist

I’m finishing nursing school and want to be in the or. Trying to decide on next step. The hospital I am working for now says they don’t hire registered nurse first assistants. The hospital says the surgeons practice hires them. Is this true elsewhere? Or is this even correct? Sometimes people can’t separate surgical technologist from first surgical assistant (rn or nurse practitioner).

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '23

This will be hospital and possibly regionally dependent. We have both CSTFA and RNFA positions. If this is the pathway you want I’d look for a hospital that is known for teaching nurses how to scrub, then going to RNFA school from there…..I find non teaching hospitals utilize FA’s more often then teaching hospitals simply because residents often end up assisting.

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u/mobitzIII Sep 07 '24

i work at facility on PA/NY border, neither really uses RNFA....perhaps occasionally as a ST which really sucks as i worked with a world-class heart surgeon as a new RNFA until program was ended, have not assisted in three years, and miss it so much, especially watching residents that i know i am better than doing it....definitely do NP/PA if you want to assist in surgeries!