The pioneer spirit in first assisting.
Unless RNs are willing to accept this responsibility, less trained people will be more than happy to do so. We have given away many of our technical skills in the past, such as allowing technicians to become firmly entrenched in the scrub role. I hope we don't let this opportunity slip through our hands because we have lost the pioneering spirit of our nursing heritage. Thirty years ago, the issue was whether or not nurses could take blood pressures. More recently, it has been whether nurses could use the defibrillator. Now both are accepted without a thought. Those of us who have chosen to expand our practice must be patient with our colleagues who have not had an opportunity to work through both sides of the issue, and encourage them to do so. There will be those who choose not to function in this role, and I believe that first assisting is not for everyone. But in order to have a choice, the option must be there.
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