“If sufferers need me to carry their hand – I’m pleased to try this. I inform them they’re an important particular person within the room and that we’ll take wonderful care of them. These are small issues – however I’ve seen them ease the anxiousness on their faces. The OR generally is a scary place, so we wish to guarantee sufferers they’re protected in our care.”
Stephanie Auxtero
Stephanie Auxtero brings heat and compassion to an in any other case sterile setting. Working within the working rooms at HSC Ladies’s Hospital, Auxtero is a comforting presence, providing help and reassurance to the sufferers she cares for every day. It’s a task that enables Auxtero to channel the identical ardour for serving to others that impressed her to pursue a profession in nursing.
Auxtero started her nursing journey in HSC’s Labour and Supply unit 12 years in the past. She had a eager curiosity in Ladies’s Well being and was uncovered to perioperative nursing early on, sparking a deep love for the specialty.
“I nonetheless bear in mind the joy of my first nursing shift in Labour and Supply and being there for an emergency C-section,” mentioned Auxtero. “I used to be instantly hooked by the science of it – and my curiosity with the OR continued to develop with every C-section I used to be current for. After I noticed a chance to affix the Ladies’s OR workforce, I went for it.”
As a member of the interprofessional Ladies’s Surgical procedure workforce, Auxtero helps patient-centred surgical look after a wide range of providers, together with Gynecology, Gynecological Oncology, Fertility, Uro-Gynecology amongst others.
“Perioperative nursing is actually a special type of nursing,” mentioned Auxtero. “There’s an ideal stability of working with progressive expertise and offering compassionate affected person care that I actually love. On this career you may help many several types of care, the probabilities actually are limitless. However I do know that the place I’m is the place I wish to be.”
Auxtero reinforces the range of her position, as every day within the OR presents one thing completely different. Perioperative nurses rotate by varied roles and duties for every slated case all through the course of a day, working intently with surgeons and anesthesiologists to arrange sufferers and the surgical area. Devoted duties can embody direct look after sufferers earlier than a process, helping the surgeon with instrumentation throughout a case, anticipating their wants and subsequent steps or arranging for a affected person’s post-surgical care plan.
For Auxtero, connecting with sufferers within the temporary moments main as much as a process is without doubt one of the most rewarding components of the job.
“We construct a rapport rapidly with sufferers earlier than their process. It may be 5 minutes of time to work together with them earlier than the anesthesia is run and takes impact. If they need me to carry their hand – I’m pleased to try this. I inform them they’re an important particular person within the room and that we’ll take wonderful care of them.”
“These are small issues – however I see how usually it helps the anxiousness depart their faces. The OR generally is a scary place, so we wish to guarantee them they’re protected in our care,” she added.
Every member of the Ladies’s Surgical procedure workforce performs their position seamlessly – from their detailed planning to the actions practiced in response to anticipated wants – they’re like a symphony enjoying their very own half however completely in sync.
“It’s the surgeon who completes the surgical procedure, the anesthesiologist who supplies a consolation to sufferers so the surgical procedure will be accomplished. And the nurses who guarantee it’s a protected setting for all of these issues to occur,” mentioned Auxtero. “We’re additionally the affected person’s advocate all through the case to ensure they’re positioned correctly whereas they aren’t capable of converse for themselves and making certain that scientific security pointers are met.”
“The workforce is consistently collaborating, speaking about affected person statuses, lab work and planning our procedures accordingly. All of us have the identical aim of protected surgical outcomes for our sufferers.”
Auxtero – now a preceptor within the OR – shares her ardour for perioperative nursing with new nursing college students as they do their senior practicum rotations by the unit.
“It’s fairly frequent for nursing college students to take a look at the OR and really feel intimidated. There’s a lot occurring in several areas of the room, varied roles and intensive gear. However I inform them they’re by no means alone and we’ll help them each step of the way in which.”
“I really like sharing my information and serving to others expertise the identical ardour for the OR as I do,” she added.
Shared Well being celebrates the achievements and the compassionate care OR nurses present our communities each day throughout Perioperative Nursing Week from November 6 – 13, 2022.
If you’re considering changing into a perioperative nurse go to https://professionals.wrha.mb.ca/nursing/schooling/specialty-nursing/ for extra info.