What kind of edcuation is required to become a surgical nurse?

I am curious as to how one becomes a surgical nurse. Thank you.

first step is register nurse, then get your continuous education in surgical field.

R.N. and OJT is the usual route.

I'm sure it depends on the state, and hospital you are working at, here in Texas, you either need to be an RN, or have worked something out with the hospital you are at (i.e. special training, scrub training and such.) I saw a LVN in the OR but she had some scrub training also so she assisted the physicians with the surgery. There is also another nurse (who was an RN) who doesn't scrub in, but writes down all the information and gets anything extra that is needed among other things.

You might want to ask a school counselor, or even call a hospital to see if they can't give you specifics. Hope this helps and good luck!

If you want to actually work in an OR at the field (meaning scrubbing into the case and helping the doctor with the slicing and dicing) then I suggest that you consider becoming a Physician Assistant (PA-C). The person who is handing the surgical instruments to the surgeon (and the PA-C) is the scrub tech. You can become a scrub tech by taking a 6-8 week course thru a Community College or Trade School. The RN in the room is usually the one who is NOT scrubbed, but is the one who gets things for the case... extra suture, additional surgical instruments and any medications that the surgeon needs, like local anesthetic, antibiotic irrigation fluid. It's because of the dispensing of these medications that this person needs to be an RN. A surgical tech could not legally dispense these drugs.