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The Beauty of It All: Plastic Surgical Nursing

We may love ourselves just the way we are, but secretly we all have some part of our body that we wish could be a little bigger, smaller, fuller, firmer, tighter, or straighter. The people who want to do more than just wish turn to the world of plastic surgery. In fact, more than 9 million Americans last year went under the knife to make something a little more perfect.

Cosmetic surgery is growing widely popular. It’s even inspired the critically acclaimed series Nip/Tuck that appears on FX and the new BRAVO docudrama Miami Slice. Although these shows focus on the doctor’s role, in reality there’s an entire team involved, including registered nurses.

Feeling Good About Helping People Look Good

Nurses who specialize in plastic surgery experience something most other nursing specialties don’t — a positive outcome on the majority of cases. Regardless of the circumstances that bring patients into the hands of a plastic surgeon, most of them leave looking better than they did before. And looking better often results in feeling better.

New procedures and cutting-edge technology are being introduced to the field making many procedures less invasive and recovery time much quicker. Because cosmetic surgery is constantly changing and advancing, many nurses working in the field feel it allows them to practice nursing to the fullest. You can always take advantage of new learning opportunities.

The Image of Plastic Surgery Needs a Facelift

The media’s coverage of celebrities’ extensive and, at times, excessive use of cosmetic surgery has given this field of medicine a frivolous reputation. Working nurses insist it’s really quite the opposite.

Vanity is seldom the driving factor. Most patients are ordinary people who want a boost of self-confidence through a simple cosmetic fix. Usually it’s something the patient has felt insecure about for most of their life.

Changing the way a person feels about themselves can be as simple as performing a noninvasive technique such as glycolic peels or laser resurfacing, to more complex surgical procedures like liposuction, a nose job or breast implants.

Giving Life a Fresh Start

Although most patients opt to have surgery voluntarily, there are some who have no choice. Car crashes, fires, and other terrible accidents can leave victims in need of plastic and reconstructive surgery. These unfortunate events can leave individuals facing intense public scrutiny and ridicule.

Plastic and reconstructive surgery can help restore patients’ appearances and, at the same time, their self-esteem. Plastic surgical nurses help victims rebuild their lives. This is one of the rewards of working in this field.

Changing Lives that Need Changing

Some people in need of plastic surgery are candidates from birth. Certain congenital deformities, such as cleft lips and cleft palates, affect more than 600 newborns each year. Fortunately here in the United States, families have access to the immediate medical attention that can make a critical difference in their children’s lives. In many countries, however, no plastic surgeons are available to perform the needed surgeries, or impoverished families simply cannot afford the medical help their children require.

Families that have nowhere else to turn can find help through U.S. volunteer organizations. Many physicians and nurses travel to developing nations to provide corrective surgery and related care for needy patients with congenital deformities or other disabling conditions, including severe burns and hand injuries. The opportunity to give people, often children, a life they never dreamed they would have is a reward that nurses in other fields may never get to experience.

Practicing Plastic Surgical Nursing

Nurses who wish to enter the field of cosmetic surgery are required to have a critical care and operating room background and must be ACLS certified. Nurses can also receive certification from the Plastic Surgical Nursing Certification Board. To be eligible to apply for certification, the candidate must:

1. Be currently licensed as a Registered Nurse in the United States, its territories or Canada.

2. Have a minimum of two (2) years of plastic surgical nursing experience as a registered nurse in a general staff administrative, teaching, or research capacity within five (5) years prior to application.

3. Have spent at least fifty percent (50%) of practice hours in plastic surgical nursing during two (2) of the preceding five (5) years.

The PSNCB believes that attainment of a common knowledge base, utilization of the nursing process, and a high level of skill in the practice setting are required for proficient practice in the specialty of plastic and reconstructive surgical nursing. Certification provides professional recognition for these achievements.

As a plastic surgical nurse you can take a degree of comfort in knowing that you perform on the more pleasant side of medicine. Most of your patients are there because they want to be and practically all of them will leave with a positive outcome. Knowing that you were able to change a patient’s life for the better is one of the ultimate benefits of being a nurse, and as a plastic surgical nurse, you get to do this every day.