Perioperative assistants are a new resource.

In the current health care environment, buzzwords such as redesign, reengineering, restructuring, right-sizing, customer service, diversity, quality, multiskilled workers, and unlicensed assistive personnel conjure up many notions about how perioperative nurses can meet the needs and wants of their patients. Unlicensed assistive personnel are becoming commonplace in our hospitals and have assumed a variety of positions and functions. This article describes a project that one hospital undertook to create unlicensed, multiskilled workers in the perioperative area.