Creating a Periop 202 Course and Orientation Program for Open‐Heart Procedures to Increase Cardiovascular OR Nurse Recruitment and Retention

Abstract

As the global population ages, hospital administrators will need to employ a sufficient number of OR nurses to meet the demands of increasing surgical volumes. However, ORs can be intimidating working environments and undergraduate nursing programs lack formal didactic courses in perioperative nursing, leaving little to entice newly graduated nurses to the perioperative specialty. It is important for nurse leaders to employ interventions for recruiting and retaining OR nurses, particularly in specialty service lines, including cardiovascular surgery. A Periop 202 course for open‐heart procedures was developed and woven into a cardiovascular OR (CVOR) orientation program for newly graduated nurses and experienced nurses who were new to the CVOR. The program aimed to increase new CVOR nurses’ competencies and knowledge of protocols and guidelines for open‐heart procedures and their self‐efficacy to function on the CVOR team. Knowledge questionnaire and learning scale results showed increased postintervention knowledge and self‐efficacy among program participants.