Published on November 12, 2010

Tour the O.R. Sunday At The Illini Campus

It’s the best way to get an inside look at the Operating Room -- without having to undergo surgery.

Come to an open house on Sunday, Nov. 14, from 1-4 p.m., at the Genesis Medical Center, Illini Campus in Silvis.

In celebration of Perioperative Nurses Week, operating room staff will set up different areas with the surgical instruments and technology used for several procedures, including total joint replacement, endoscopy and cataract surgery. Come inside the hospital’s main entrance, where greeters will direct you where to go.

“We’ll set up some of the Operating Rooms just as if we were going to do actual procedures,” says Colette Kissling, RN, CNOR, who is Manager of the Illini Campus Operating Room. “For example, we’ll set up one area for a total joint replacement, with the instruments and even samples of the joint implants we use. Visitors will be able to see the space-suit-like uniforms and surgical hoods worn by staff during orthopedic procedures.”

Visitors also can get a taste for the technical complexity and hand-eye coordination needed to do a laparoscopic surgery, such as a gallbladder removal; view endoscopy instruments; and, see the large microscope used during cataract surgery – all in a realistic setting with mannequins posing as surgical patients.

Perioperative Nurse Week is a time to recognize and honor perioperative nurses for their important role and commitment to safe patient care.