Stepping into the operating room for the first time can be both exciting and overwhelming.

From understanding the rhythm of the room to locating the right equipment, new perioperative staff face a steep learning curve, often under pressure. At the same time, preceptors must train new team members while keeping cases on track.

For perioperative leaders, this creates a difficult balancing act: supporting new staff while maintaining efficiency, safety, and staff well-being.

Incision Assist is a digital platform designed to support perioperative teams by making the practical knowledge of the OR easier to access when it’s needed most.

“Assist gives new staff a way to prepare independently, to walk in feeling less anxious and more confident,” says Cathy Ackerman, MSN, RN, APRN-CNS, CNOR, CNS-CP, VP of Clinical Operations at Incision. “And for preceptors, it eases the burden of having to repeat the same guidance over and over.”

Onboarding at Capacity: A Common Challenge

In many hospitals, onboarding isn’t limited by willingness to teach; it’s limited by capacity. There may be multiple new hires rotating through the same service line, but only one educator, one preceptor, or one available room to observe cases. Even well-planned onboarding schedules can quickly become disrupted when too many learners need access to the same procedures.

That’s where having access to procedural knowledge, surgeon preferences, and room setup information outside the OR can help.

With Assist, new staff can review procedures, room setup visuals, and required equipment before stepping into the room. This allows them to arrive with a clearer understanding of the case and ask more focused questions during the procedure itself.

For educators and preceptors, it also shifts some of the preparation outside the clinical moment. Instead of spending valuable OR time explaining the same details, they can focus more on mentorship and clinical decision-making.

Not Just for Newcomers

While onboarding is an important use case, Assist has proven to be just as valuable for experienced staff.

“You have nurses pulled out of their specialty all the time, especially weekends and off shifts,” Cathy explains. “They may suddenly need to set up for a case they haven’t seen in months. Assist gives them a way to quickly check the details: what’s needed, how to set up, and what the surgeon prefers. It shaves off minutes and lowers stress.”

In many hospitals today, staff work in specialty “pods,” but coverage needs mean people frequently step outside their usual service line. For generalists, remembering every detail across hundreds of procedures can be challenging.

Having a quick way to check case-specific information, such as through Assist, can help teams move forward with greater confidence and fewer delays.

A Leadership Opportunity: Preserving Knowledge

Beyond individual cases, tools like Assist highlight a broader leadership opportunity: capturing institutional knowledge and making it accessible to the whole team.

Much of what keeps an OR running smoothly lives in the experience of veteran staff. When that knowledge becomes easier to share, teams can onboard new staff more effectively and support experienced clinicians when they step outside their comfort zone.

As Cathy puts it: “When knowledge walks out the door, through turnover, travel staff, and retirement, teams feel it immediately. Making that knowledge accessible helps new staff ramp up faster and helps experienced staff when they’re pulled into something unfamiliar.”

Supporting a Stronger Start, and a Stronger Team

Assist isn’t just a tool. It’s about giving OR teams the information they need,  when and where they need it, so they can focus on what matters most: delivering safe, effective patient care as a unified team.

And when onboarding goes more smoothly, the whole OR benefits, from reduced stress to more seamless handovers and higher team morale.

“Confidence spreads,” says Cathy. “When someone’s prepared, you feel it across the whole room.”

Equip your team with tools that boost confidence and cut down on case-day chaos.
Get in touch at www.incision.care/contact or explore the platform at www.incision.care/products/assist