St. Vincent's Medical Center offers a summer extern program in the operating room for the University of North Florida's senior nursing students. There is an initial application, followed by an interview with the operating room nurse educator and selective staff members. Once accepted, your twelve weeks, full time summer experience begins! In this program, you will rotate into at least two surgical specialties, follow nurse preceptors, and actively assume the role of a perioperative nurse. The functions of this role include the following actions: preparing the operative suite for the particular surgical procedure, interviewing and escorting the patient to the OR suite, applying monitors to evaluate physiologic status, assisting as needed during the procedure, and escorting the patient to the post anesthesia care unit. In addition to these objectives, occassionally you would have the opportunity to scrub into a case and assist the physician and/or the surgical technicians. For more information, the nurse OR educator visits UNF in April to discuss this unique program with any interested nursing students.