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Registered Nurse First Assistant

University of Tennessee Health Science Center

United States of America, Memphis

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University of Tennessee Health Science Center

United States of America , Memphis

Key Facts

Program Level

Graduate Certificate

Study Type

Full Time

Delivery

On Campus

Application Fee

USD 75

Campuses

Main Site

Program Language

English

Start & Deadlines

Next Intake DeadlinesJuly-2023

Apply to this program

Go to the official application for the university

Duration 1 year(s)

Tuition Fee

USD 43,538 / year

Next Intake July-2023

Registered Nurse First Assistant

About

The Registered Nurse First Assistant (RNFA) is a perioperative registered nurse (RN) or an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) who functions in an expanded role as a surgical first assistant. The RNFA works in collaboration with the surgeon and other health care team members to achieve optimal patient outcomes; utilizes the necessary knowledge, judgment, and skills specific to the expanded role of RNFA clinical practice; and practices intraoperatively at the direction of the surgeon" (AORN, 2015).

The RNFA role is recognized within the scope of nursing practice by the nurse practice acts in all 50 states and may vary depending on patient populations, the environment in which the RNFA practices, services provided, availability of fiscal resources including reimbursement policies, and institutional credentialing regulations. (AORN, 2015).

The graduate of the RNFA program will be able to:

1. Explore potential surgical hazards and safety measures to prevent injury including patient and occupational related hazards.

2. Explain the design and use of key surgical instruments used for surgical procedures.

3. Demonstrate knowledge of common surgical procedures incorporating an understanding of anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology.

4. Demonstrate proper sequence of procedures, assisting behaviors, operative technique and knowledge of potential complications related to the surgical procedure.

5. Exhibit proper handling and knowledge of surgical instruments and medical devices, providing surgical site exposure, handling tissue, cutting tissue, providing hemostasis, suturing, and wound management.

6. Develop a continuous and applicable nursing assessment, plan of care and patient evaluation throughout the perioperative period in collaboration with other health care providers.

7. Document intraoperative patient management in the surgical first-assisting clinical experience.

8. Document postoperative patient management such as participation in postoperative rounds and assisting with discharge planning including identification of appropriate community resources intraoperative clinical experiences precepted by Board-Certified Surgeons.

Disciplines

College of Nursing

Requirements

Entry Requirements

Each college is responsible for developing program-specific, admission requirements, including prerequisite course and other requirements. It is the responsibility of the Office of Admissions to administer the admission requirements developed by individual UTHSC colleges and programs. General admission requirements for all UTHSC colleges include:

Previously earned grades of "D" or below in prerequisite courses are not accepted as fulfilling admission standards.
One or two-semester hour courses in physical education, seminar, music, military science, remedial and developmental, research, and non-theory courses are not counted toward total credit hours earned and are not used in computing the overall, UTHSC Common Grade Point Average (CGPA).
All required prerequisite courses in science must include a lab concurrent with the science courses to fulfill the course requirement.
Correspondence coursework must be approved by appropriate college administrators and the UTHSC Director of Admissions to before inclusion.
Advanced Placement credit, CLEP, or other non-traditional credit in required science prerequisite courses awarded by the applicant's regionally-accredited college may be honored for fulfilling prerequisite course requirements provided that the applicant has successfully completed an equal number of semester hours in the same discipline in a traditional classroom setting.

Note: Some UTHSC colleges and programs do not accept CLEP credit in required science prerequisite coursework. Coursework credit awarded via General CLEP tests is not accepted by the UTHSC. One credit unit in high school or six semester hours of college-level credit in American history must be completed prior to the beginning of the second term of a student's baccalaureate program at UTHSC.

Fee Information

Tuition Fee

USD 43,538

Application Fee

USD 75

How to Apply

1. Explore our degrees and programs

Start by exploring our Degrees and Programs to determine which program is a good fit for you and your goals. From the quality of our faculty and research facilities, to graduate student support both financially and academically, UTHSC programs are competitive across school rankings.

2. Chose the program that's right for you

After comparing programs, if you still have questions, visit our Admissions website or contact the program of your choice's admissions site.

3. Ready to apply? Apply Online!

Are you ready to apply to UTHSC? Apply now online. If you have any requirement questions, visit our admissions information page.

4. Decide and Accept

To accept or decline admission, you must login to your application. If you decide to attend UTHSC, know that we’ll do everything we can to support you throughout your academic career.

5. Transition to UTHSC

Congratulations, and welcome to the UTHSC community of talented and enthusiastic students and alumni! View our UTHSC University Requirements as a guide before you come on campus.