Development of a New Graduate Perioperative Nursing Program at an Urban Pediatric Institution

Abstract

In 2012, perioperative personnel from Boston Children's Hospital began the process of planning for perioperative staff member attrition and retirement by developing a new graduate perioperative nursing program geared toward our pediatric urban academic institution. We selected two cohorts of new graduate nurses to begin the program in 2013. To date, two cohorts of six graduate nurses have completed the program and have been hired. Our new perioperative nurse retention rate is 100%. All of these nurses are currently practicing in the main OR at our facility. In one year, we recovered the initial program costs, which included the expenses incurred by hiring 12 full-time employees to replace more highly paid tenured RNs lost to attrition or retirement and training costs for new graduates. We believe the program has reduced overall long-term staffing costs and has prevented disruption to services as a result of unexpected vacancies from retirements and resignations.

Addressing the Perioperative Nursing Shortage Through Education: A Perioperative Imperative

“…Perioperative nurse educators are responsible for the development of an orientation program for new graduates and other novice perioperative nurses, also known as perioperative fellowships or preceptorships . These structured orientation programs may or may not be linked with an academic nursing program.…”

“…Perioperative nurse educators are responsible for the development of an orientation program for new graduates and other novice perioperative nurses, also known as perioperative fellowships or preceptorships. 21,35,73,78,80,81 These structured orientation programs may or may not be linked with an academic nursing program. Often the educators design their programs using AORN Periop 101 as a foundation and incorporate both class and clinical experiences.…”

Addressing Differences and Challenges in the Pediatric Perioperative Setting

“…The article in this issue by Gorgone et al 11 reviews the critical shortage of perioperative nurses and the universal need for succession planning to address current and future workplace challenges, especially in specialty areas such as pediatrics. Succession planning is described as a proactive business strategy aimed at developing individuals in the organization to ensure the availability of adequately experienced and capable individuals to fill vacated positions 12 .…”

“…Succession planning is especially crucial in the perioperative environment to avoid deleterious effects on patient access to perioperative services and on patient safety because of knowledge loss with high attrition rates of experienced nurses and to prevent subsequent economic losses to hospitals from staff shortages that can affect surgical workflow 13 . The article by Gorgone et al 11 describes how nursing leaders at Boston Children's Hospital undertook succession planning and developed a highly successful new graduate perioperative nursing program in response to a projected critical shortage of perioperative nurses. The structured program introduces new nursing graduates to the specialty environment of the OR without the historical requirement of previous nursing experience.…”

“…The structured program introduces new nursing graduates to the specialty environment of the OR without the historical requirement of previous nursing experience. The success of the program has been attributed to the creation of a mentoring culture and the involvement of perceivably supportive preceptors 11 . This novel approach to succession planning serves to help ensure the delivery of high‐quality nursing care and positively supports the entire health care delivery system.…”