Anesthesia Technician - Full Time - Days

Nebraska Methodist Hospital•Omaha, NE

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Anesthesia Technician assists anesthesia practitioners and operating room personnel to ensure operative and anesthesia care needs are met. The role performs technical and supportive patient-care tasks, including stocking supplies, maintaining inventories, cleaning and sterilizing equipment according to infection-control policies, assisting anesthesia practitioners, and keeping the department clean. The position is based at Methodist Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, and is scheduled Tuesday through Friday from 4:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The technician maintains anesthesia machines, monitors, medication carts, difficult airway carts, malignant hyperthermia totes, reusable equipment, inventories, and the anesthesia supply room. Duties include checking supplies and medications for expiration dates, keeping equipment and work areas clean and ready, troubleshooting monitoring equipment and scopes, and ensuring surgical suites are stocked for cases. The technician responds to physicians and CRNAs, answers pages promptly, helps turn over rooms between cases, and assists with patients during procedures such as epidural administration while recognizing practice limitations. The role also involves age-appropriate communication with adolescent, young adult, middle adult, and geriatric patients; communicating health and safety issues; and maintaining a safe, uncluttered work environment.

Requirements

High school diploma or General Educational Development (G.E.D.).
Satisfactory completion of annual mandatory education requirements.
Excellent interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with hospital personnel, patients, and the public.
Knowledge of Microsoft Outlook and Word equivalent to Level I experience, and ability to learn a materials management inventory system.
Ability to analyze product and supply literature and manage inventory needs.
Ability to prioritize time and tasks according to patient and Department of Anesthesia needs without prompting.
Ability to meet Medium Work weight demands: exerting up to 50 pounds of force alone or up to 100 pounds with assistance from a second person.

Nice To Haves

Operating room and/or hospital experience.
Current American Heart Association Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.

Responsibilities

Place clean circuits on anesthesia machines at the beginning of each day and after cases; ensure anesthetic agents are available and check expiration dates.
Maintain anesthesia machine sodasorb, terminally clean machines daily, keep reusable equipment clean, and place clean back circuits on appropriate machines weekly.
Know how to locate and change oxygen tanks, ensure machine cables, cuffs, lines, suction apparatus, and supplies are available, and set up oxygen transport.
Troubleshoot anesthesia monitoring equipment and check cables and lines attached to monitors.
Clean medication carts daily, change sharps containers when needed, restock carts according to inventory lists, keep supplies orderly, check for outdates, and dispose of contaminated materials according to infection-control policy.
Stock the difficult airway cart, identify intubating-scope components, prepare scopes for Sterile Processing, and troubleshoot scope malfunctions.
Keep the malignant hyperthermia tote stocked and check expiration dates; return outdated medication to the pharmacy and ensure the tote is available when needed.
Clean and maintain reusable equipment, follow procedures for cleaning, high-level disinfection, sterilization, and storage, and inspect LMA and Fastrach equipment for rubber breakdown.
Clean the exterior casing of Bard InfusOR and CADD Prizm pumps and clean blood pressure cuffs; locate and retrieve anesthesia equipment from Sterile Processing.
Maintain clean and orderly inventory, identify supplies accurately, rotate stock, keep appropriate inventory levels, and ensure carts and surgical suites are prepared for cases.
Identify items that need to be ordered, notify appropriate personnel, understand special-order constraints, receive ordered supplies, and store them appropriately.
Maintain the anesthesia supply room, perform minor housekeeping duties, maintain batteries in anesthesia equipment, restock inventory, and check medications for outdates and return them to the pharmacy.
Provide care appropriate to patients' ages and communicate treatment, health, and safety information to adolescent, young adult, middle adult, and geriatric patients.
Respond to physicians and CRNAs throughout the day, answer pages in a timely manner, clean rooms for timely case turnover, and assist with patients while a physician administers an epidural, within practice limitations.