Surgical Recovery Specialist

Life Source is hiring a Surgical Recovery Specialist (SRS) to collaborate with external / internal partners in the surgical dissection, removal, and preparation of abdominal organs and tissue recovered from deceased donors for transplantation and research, utilizing your Surgical First Assist procedural techniques. In collaboration with the Surgical Recovery team, the SRS manages the operative environment to ensure collaboration between transplant teams, the donor hospital and Life Source.

The SRS provides prompt, professional, and effective service to partners and customers to meet requirements and enhance relationships. This involves working closely with transplant centers and heart valve processors to meet regulatory requirements. You will also work on performance improvement activities to maximize organs recovered for transplantation and research including engaging in continuing education and development of efficiencies, stewardship and effectiveness of recovery and preservation processes.

In this role, you will have variety - no two days are the same! This includes scrubbing in for a variety of cases in locations across our designated service area of the Upper Midwest and building working partnerships with different hospital teams. In the OPO / organ procurement space, there is a lot of innovation in techniques and devices, so it is a constant opportunity to learn and grow your skills.

If you are an adaptable, highly‑detailed, and technical Surgical Assist / Surgical First Assist looking for an exciting new role that offers autonomy and new challenges, please continue reading below for more detail.

As a Surgical Recovery Specialist, you’ll advance our life‑saving work by performing the following job duties:

• Ensure organ recovery procedures, both Donation after Brain Death (DBD) donors and Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD) donors, meet national standards for organ recovery and transplantation.
• In collaboration with the Organ Recovery and Preservation team, manage the operative environment, working in strong collaboration with surgeons, hospital staff, physicians, and related donation agencies, to meet recovery and education standards.
• As an active role within the operating room, participate in directing the flow of activity including donor hospital staff, and others, who participate in the recovery process.
• Execute preoperative safety measures, in accordance with standard safety and regulatory surgical processes and procedures.
• Oversee proper positioning of donor and exposure for the recovery procedure including proper rotation and positioning of extremities, prevention of patient sliding on bed, and proper handling and placement of lines.
• Prepare for recovery as appropriate to expose, prep and drape to create the sterile field and ensure effective sterile technique.
• Evaluate and incorporate products to ensure effective barriers are established and maintained that prevent contamination during the entire procedure.
• Identify and acquire appropriate instrumentation in collaboration with the surgeon and surgical technologist.
• Responsible for inspecting the abdominal cavity for abnormalities that necessitate pathological evaluation.
• Execute surgical recovery techniques including dissecting, identifying and developing surgical planes, clamping, cauterizing, suturing, inserting, manipulating, retracting, cutting, and ligating tissue as necessary in partnership with surgeon, according to safety and regulatory requirements.
• Independently recover research organs and heart for valves in donor hospitals.
• Conclude the recovery procedure, according to surgeon preference and donor care and management standards.
• Execute mechanical preservation of kidneys by positioning cannula and placement of kidney on pulsatile perfusion device using sterile technique to optimize organ acceptance.
• Engage in supporting a professional operating room environment, driving collaborative discussion and resolution to achieve donation outcomes.

Collaborate within the organization and with external resources to develop and promote practices that increase the number of organs recovered for transplantation and research.

• In collaboration…