Operating Theatre Nurse

Médecins Sans Frontières; Australia; Remote; AUD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Médecins Sans Frontières is seeking Operating Theatre (OT) nurses to support a wide range of surgical fields in humanitarian contexts where medical access is limited. The role includes direct and indirect patient care, staff recruitment, training, inventory management, and 24/7 on-call readiness.

The OT team manages the operating and recovery rooms, sterilisation, and data reporting, with emphasis on infection control and collaboration across departments.

Qualifications

• Minimum five years RN experience.
• At least three years as a circulating nurse and scrub nurse.
• Current practising certificate with no >2 year clinical gap.
• Experience in obstetrics, orthopaedics, and general surgery.
• Infection control experience including sterilisation and hygiene procedures.

Responsibilities

• Provide direct and indirect assistance in a wide range of surgical operations.
• Support preoperative and postoperative rounds and determine surgical schedule.
• Recruit and guide locally hired staff, plan and implement training.
• Oversee training and management of the surgical department staff.
• Provide infection control training for OT staff and oversee sterilisation processes.

Skills

RN (Registered Nurse)

Circulating nurse

Scrub nurse

Infection control

Leadership & training

Data management

Education

Bachelor of Nursing

Job description

Operating theatre (OT) nurses support a wide range of surgical fields, including natural disaster and conflict trauma and surgical treatment in areas where medical access is scarce. Those in this position provide direct and indirect assistance to patients.

They are also entrusted with hiring local operating room nurses, planning and implementing daily work guidance and training, ordering pharmaceutical supplies, and managing inventory. OT nurses manage the operating room, recovery room, and medical equipment sterilisation team as well as submit business reports on a regular basis. They may be on-call 24 hours a day.

ACTIVITIES

• Provide direct and indirect assistance in a wide range of surgical operations
• Support preoperative and postoperative rounds (determination of surgical schedule, postoperative follow-up, etc.)
• Recruit and provide guidance to locally hired staff, including sterilisation specialists and cleaners; plan and implement training
• Oversee supervisor training and team management for the entire surgery department (including recovery room)
• Provide infection control training for staff involved in the surgical department
• Guide sterilisation specialists in instrument cleaning, sterilisation methods, and autoclave handling based on MSF guidelines
• Implement staff training for MCP (mass casualty planning) based on the project
• Support staff in other departments depending on the level of cooperation between departmentsOrder and manage inventory, such as surgical instruments, machines, and pharmaceutical supplies required for the project
• Submit activity reports and manage data (patient files, forms, statistics, databases, etc.)
• Minimum five years nursing (RN) experience with at least three years experience as a circulating nurse, but also as a scrub nurse in a multidisciplinary operating room
• Experience in direct and indirect care for a wide range of operations such as obstetrics, orthopaedics, and general surgery
• Over one year of infection control experience, including experience in sterilisation and hygiene procedures in the OT
• Available for assignment for a minimum of three months or longer
• Current practising certificate and must display no recent gap in clinical experience greater than two years
• Experience in paediatric surgery or vascular surgery

MSF Medical-Operational Guidelines

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) develops medical-operational guidelines for use in resource-limited environments. These guidelines draw from practical experience and scientific data collected in MSF’s projects, as well as evidence published by the World Health Organization and other leading medical institutions and scientific literature.