RNFA

In 1996, Bernadette Brennan, RN, was awarded a fellowship from the Australian Confederation of Operating Room Nurses (now known as the Australian College of Operating Room Nurses Ltd.) to travel to the United States to study the role of the Advanced Nurse Practitioner, with an emphasis on the role of the registered nurse first assistant (RNFA). As part of this study, she undertook an RNFA course at Delaware County Community College. This article provides a description of her work to develop an educational program for RNFAs in Australia...

Faculty and students in the 21st century need to be skilled in the use of computer technology. In this registered nurse first assistant (RNFA) program, distance learning modalities are used to link students and faculty from different locales, expanding the accessibility of RNFA education. Independent study is used to stimulate critical thinking and skill acquisition in a safe, user friendly environment. The strategies described are simple yet powerful and can be similarly developed by faculty in other RNFA programs without the need for large budgetary expenditures or sophisticated technology...

In 1984, AORN developed its first official statement on RN first assistant (RNFA) practice. This article is a guide for RNFAs seeking self-employment. The dynamics of change, with reference to the role of the RNFA, in perioperative nursing and entrepreneurship will be discussed. Nurses' responsibilities in this expanded role, methods of becoming a change agent, and methods of obtaining privileges to practice as a self-employed RNFA (ie, functioning under the supervision of a surgeon) in health care organizations will be identified...

As monetary constraints in health care increase, stakeholders search for avenues to ensure cost-effective care provision. In the perioperative environment one such avenue involves the group of health care providers supporting surgeons and patients during surgery--the surgical assistant. In Canada, general practice physicians predominantly fill this role. Another viable option promoted as a cost-effective alternative to the physician assistant is the Registered Nurse First Assistant (RNFA). The relationship between RNFA cost-effectiveness and role implementation and reimbursement is explored in this article...

This study was conducted to determine abnormalities of the GDx Glaucoma Scanning System parameters in patients with tilted discs, in order to set guidelines for the evaluation of glaucomatous damage in this situation. The objective was to determine which GDx parameters displayed the highest level of variation, and which remained unchanged in tilted disc syndrome. RNFA was polarimetrically conducted on 45 eyes from 26 subjects with tilted discs, and 43 normal eyes with Nerve Fiber Analyzer II (Laser Diagnostic Technologies)...

This inquiry was to determine the feasibility of creating a nursing role for first assisting in the cardiac operating room in Newfoundland and Labrador. A committee was struck to review the role as it existed in the United States and Canada. Following this, the committee gained approval from appropriate professional associations and began developing the program. The result is that three nurses are currently working as RNFA's in Cardiac Surgery and two nurses are piloting a RNFA Program for General Surgery.

A requirement of the Registered Nurse First Assistant (RNFA) Clinical Internship is to explore the RNFA collaborative role with the anaesthetic team in facilitating positive patient surgical outcomes.

PAs are dependent practitioners, but that means we are an integral part of a team, and our value extends far beyond the operating room. Reimbursement for surgical services includes all services provided within a 60-day period of the operation. All care provided by a PA, therefore--care that an RNFA is neither trained nor allowed by law to perform--represents added value. Our presence and contribution save time, reduce the workload of the surgeon in and out of the operating room, and enhance care. Our mission, then, is to communicate our value not only to our employers but also to the hospitals in which we work and the communities that we serve...

The phototrophic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus is able to reduce 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) to 2-amino-4-nitrophenol enzymatically and thus can grow in the presence of this uncoupler. DNP reduction was switched off by glutamine or ammonium, but this short-term regulation did not take place in a draTG deletion mutant. Nevertheless, the target of DraTG does not seem to be the nitrophenol reductase itself since the ammonium shock did not inactivate the enzyme. In addition to this short-term regulation, ammonium or glutamine repressed the DNP reduction system...

Nurses who are educated and certified for the RN first assistant (RNFA) role must look for ways to introduce the RNFA role into their health care setting while also marketing their services over another assistant's services. This article offers information on the RNFA role, including practice requirements, a job description, and strategies to help institute the first assistant role into a health care facility.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Escherichia coli endonuclease VIII and endo-nuclease III are oxidative base excision repair DNA glycosylases that remove oxidized pyrimidines from DNA. The genes encoding these proteins, nei and nth, are both co-transcribed as the terminal genes in operons. nei is the terminal gene in an operon with four open reading frames that encode proteins of unknown function. This operon has two confirmed transcription initiation sites upstream of the first open reading frame and two transcript termination sites downstream of nei...

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is one of the most frequently performed laparoscopic procedures today and involves the same surgical principles as an open cholecystectomy, except that access to the abdomen is gained transabdominally using video laparoscopic techniques and instrumentation. Registered nurse first assistants (RNFAs) provide retraction and tissue exposure for the surgeon during this procedure and should be aware of safe laparoscopic surgical techniques and potential injuries that can occur from manipulation of surrounding structures...

Although the molecular evolution of protein tertiary structure and enzymatic activity has been studied for decades, little attention has been paid to the evolution of membrane protein topology. Here, we show that two closely related polytopic inner membrane proteins from Escherichia coli have evolved opposite orientations in the membrane, which apparently has been achieved by the selective redistribution of positively charged amino acids between the polar segments flanking the transmembrane stretches. This example of divergent evolution of membrane protein topology suggests that a complete inversion of membrane topology is possible with relatively few mutational changes even for proteins with multiple transmembrane segments...

In today's changing health care climate, patients need the continuity of care that an RNFA can provide. Becoming an RNFA takes years of experience, built upon an established foundation of broad clinical experience, highly developed technical skills, and knowledge gathered both inside and outside of the operating room. An extensive knowledge of case management, anatomy, physiology, wound healing, and physical assessment affirms the RNFA as a multicompetent team member. This, in addition to some sound business sense, can lead to various employment opportunities...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

As the use of robotic aides increases the possibility of telesurgery, the perioperative scope of practice could include using patients' homes or other nontraditional settings as surgical sites. Even mobile surgical vans could be used. To perform telesurgery, the health care industry actively must define the role of the health care professional with the patient who can make an incision and insert a laparoscope. This may create an opportune time to promote the RN first assistant (RNFA) role--a goal that will involve expanding our state nurse practice acts to allow RNFAs to perform various functions for true advanced practice in nontraditional settings...