Robin Walker
Gainesville,FL
Summary
Compassionate Registered Nurse with 25 years of experience in delivering comprehensive patient care in the healthcare industry. Twenty three of those years working in the operating room as a Surgical Nurse. Adores working with a diverse patient population of all ages and fostering relationships with patients and their families. Strong talent as a preceptor to newly hired nurses who want to transition into surgical nursing.
Overview
26
26
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Registered Nurse of the Operating Room
Malcom Randall VA Medical Center
2021.11 - Current
- Prepped operating rooms to comply with environmental asepsis standards.
- Collaborated with members of patients' healthcare team to deliver appropriate level of care.
- Observed surgeon's body language, movements and demeanor during operations to anticipate needs.
- Collected, labeled and transported specimens and delivered to lab for testing.
- Positive working relationship with surgeons, anesthesia, and other healthcare team members throughout the pre-operative, operative, and immediate post-operative phases of patient care.
- Responsible for supervision of patient care by surgical team within the operating room.
- Responsible for maintenance and care of equipment to provide a safe environment for patients and staff.
- Participates with in-services of new or unfamiliar equipment.
- Works well with vendors and suppliers to ensure special equipment, supplies, instruments and implants are available for procedures.
- Responsible for maintaining sterility of the operating room environment and that instrument trays and supplies are not compromised.
- Responsible for communication between surgeon and patient family members during surgical procedures.
- Service Lead for GYN and assist with ENT Service.
- Ability to circulate all surgical procedures and scrub many surgical procedures independently.
- Highly skilled in many specialty services, such as GYN, General, Urology, Plastics, GI and ENT.
- Strong with Robotic procedures.
Registered Nurse of the Operating Room
Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center
2019.03 - 2021.11
- Positive working relationship with surgeons, anesthesia, and other members of the healthcare team during the pre-operative, operative, and immediate post-operative phases of patient care.
- Responsible for supervising the care of patients by the the surgical team within the operating room.
- Responsible for the maintenance and care of equipment to provide a safe environment for patients and staff.
- Assists in the orientation process of newly hired surgical staff.
- Participates with in-services of new or unfamiliar equipment.
- Works well with vendors and suppliers to ensure special equipment, supplies, instruments and implants are available for procedures.
- Responsible for maintaining sterility of the operating room environment and that instrument trays and supplies are not compromised.
- Responsible for communication between surgeon and patient family members during surgical procedures.
- Ability to scrub many surgical procedures independently.
- Perform in the role of pre-operative nurse on a rotated schedule.
- Serve occasionally in the role of Charge Nurse.
Registered Nurse of the Operating Room
University Hospitals, Rainbow Babies & Children's
1999.09 - 2019.02
- Perform all responsibilities of circulating nurse and scrub nurse.
- Assess patient health status prior to surgery and help to alleviate any concerns for patients and their families. This can include verifying allergies, NPO status, recent changes in health status, addressing fear and anxiety issues, and hourly procedure updates for longer cases.
- Gather supplies and equipment required for surgical procedures, which also include contacting vendors to bring special supplies or instruments for the surgeon to trial during procedures.
- Responsible for keeping the operating room environment sterile by ensuring that trays are dry and intact, that supplies are not damaged or compromised. We are a teaching facility, so I also educate new residents and medical students regarding sterility and contamination issues in the operating room.
- Assist doctors with surgeries on invasive and non-invasive procedures by providing surgical instruments and supplies that are sterile, working and intact. I also anticipate the surgeon needs by following the procedure carefully and providing instruments, equipment and supplies without them asking. This involves consistently predicting their needs.
- Establish and maintain effective communication with physicians, anesthesiologists, patients, family members and other hospital staff for every surgical and nonsurgical procedures. The communication must be constant so that everyone is current with changes in surgical procedures, and/or changes in a patient's health status or lab work.
- Serve as Preceptor training new staff on practices and procedures. I have been a preceptor for more than 10 newly hired nurses with no prior OR experience and approximately 75% of those nurses have retained their employment.
- Medication verification of proper dosage and expiration date is a huge responsibility that occurs between the circulating nurse and the scrub person. It is extremely important that the proper medication, dosage, amount and allergy check are all verified prior to administration to the patient .
- I have served as Time scheduler for staff nurses for 6 years. This process involved scheduling the proper amount of staff daily so that there is sufficient coverage within a 24hr period for six weeks at a time. This also included ensuring that there was sufficient lunch coverage as well.
- I have served as Call scheduler for staff nurses for 8 years. This process involved scheduling the right amount adequate and capable staff to be on call on weekends for a six week period through the year.
- I have served as Charge Nurse on occasion while the department Charge nurse is on vacation and occasionally during the one day a week that the Charge Nurse was scheduled off from work. I also continue to cover, at times, as charge during off shifts after the Charge Nurse has gone home for the day.
- I currently am Co-Service Manager for General Surgery, which include ordering supplies that are needed by the surgeons, making sure that all instruments are working properly and/or repaired, maintaining the surgeon's picklist/preference cardsso that they are up-to-date, and monitoring future surgical cases to ensure that equipment and supplies will be available for use. Also, I was responsible for training new nurses orienting to general surgery.
Registered Nurse of the Operating Room, PRN
Akron Children's Hospital
2001.02 - 2001.10
- Assisted the surgeon with surgical procedures in the operating room.
- Responsible for circulating and scrubbing surgical and nonsurgical procedures.
Registered Nurse, 40hr
University Hospitals Bedford Medical Center
1998.02 - 1999.09
- Delivered quality care for patients with varied conditions, including heart failure, on a Telemetry Unit
- Provided education, home going instructions, and discharge planning
Registered Nurse, Fulltime, 40 Hrs/wk
Harborside Healthcare
1997.09 - 1998.02
- Specialized in the care of patients that required skilled care with pressure sores and wound care treatment
- Provided nursing care to a wide range of elderly patients at a skilled nursing facility
Education
Bachelor Of Science In Nursing
Ohio University
Athens, OH2017
Associate Of Applied Science Nursing
Cuyahoga Community College
Cleveland, OH1997
Skills
- Preceptor
- Service Leader/Manager
- Electronic Health Record Management
- Compassionate
- Patient Safety Advocate
- People person
- Organized
- Excellent work ethic
- Positive team player
Certification
- Registered Nurse in the State of Ohio and Florida
- BLS certified
- Currently studying for the CNOR exam
- Membership - current member of AORN
(Association of Operative Registered Nurses)
Committees
Has previously served on the Unit Practice Committee (UPC)at another facility: This committee identifies challenges and obstacles that prevent or interfere with nursing staff to efficiently do their job as operating room nurses. It serves to identify and create better working conditions and a better work environment for nurses. Also, the UPC committee looks at ways to improve patient safety that will ultimately lead to improve patient satisfaction. One area that this committee enhanced was the nurse to nurse patient hand off process by creating a handoff tool that included pertinent information about the patient's health/surgical status during the transfer of care from one nurse to another. Although I do not currently serve on this committee and my current place of employment, I do serve as a reference person, and have established a strong working relationship with many on the team.
Timeline
Registered Nurse of the Operating Room
Malcom Randall VA Medical Center
2021.11 - Current
Registered Nurse of the Operating Room
Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center
2019.03 - 2021.11
Registered Nurse of the Operating Room, PRN
Akron Children's Hospital
2001.02 - 2001.10
Registered Nurse of the Operating Room
University Hospitals, Rainbow Babies & Children's
1999.09 - 2019.02
Registered Nurse, 40hr
University Hospitals Bedford Medical Center
1998.02 - 1999.09
Registered Nurse, Fulltime, 40 Hrs/wk
Harborside Healthcare
1997.09 - 1998.02
Bachelor Of Science In Nursing
Ohio University
Associate Of Applied Science Nursing
Cuyahoga Community College
- Registered Nurse in the State of Ohio and Florida
- BLS certified
- Currently studying for the CNOR exam
- Membership - current member of AORN
(Association of Operative Registered Nurses)
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