Introducing Perioperative Nursing as a Foundation for Clinical Practice

Perioperative nurse leaders are facing an unprecedented nursing shortage. Very few baccalaureate nursing programs in the United States prepare graduates for perioperative nursing, and many current perioperative nurses are retiring from practice or leaving the field for other reasons. It is a challenge for nursing administrators to fill the vacant positions because it takes several months to orient a novice perioperative nurse and it involves significant costs. This article provides current information about perioperative nurse and leader shortages, discusses the effects of the shortages on patient safety and health care facility finances, and reviews the available literature about perioperative nursing education from both an academic and health care facility administrative perspective. In addition, this article presents strategies for addressing the nursing shortage and describes implications for clinical practice, education, and research.

Section: Perioperative Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing the Perioperative Nursing Shortage Through Education: A Perioperative Imperative

Beitz¹

2019

“…Tschirch et al made perhaps the most radical attempt at introducing perioperative nursing to the curriculum by requiring a perioperative nursing course as the first clinical course in a new baccalaureate program. The researchers based the content for the course on AORN's Periop 101.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some anecdotal reporting indicated that two of the students reported working in a perioperative setting after graduation, while another, who worked in an intensive care unit, reported that the experience could be translated to critical care. With the exception of Tschirch et al, most perioperative content has been incorporated into nursing programs by adding experiences to existing courses and developing electives.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…No studies were found in the literature that examine the long‐term effect of perioperative courses on career choices. Because some nursing students have indicated that they are more open to considering perioperative nursing in the future because of undergraduate experiences, additional research is needed regarding the effectiveness of perioperative courses on career choices over time.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effect of a Perioperative Nursing Elective on Nursing Career Paths

Schmidt¹,

Brown²

2018

Nurse educators play a role in addressing the growing perioperative nurse shortage in the United States by implementing strategies to entice new graduates to this specialty. The purpose of our study was to determine if an undergraduate perioperative nursing elective influenced the career choices of nurses four to nine years after they graduated from a baccalaureate nursing program in the midwestern United States. Using a descriptive study design, 23 of 50 nurses responded to a survey about positions they have held since graduating and the influence of a perioperative nursing elective on their career choices. Twenty-six percent of nurses in this sample went on to work in the perioperative specialty, and the majority indicated they continued to consider perioperative nursing as a career choice. Considering the potential long-term effects of this strategy, incorporating a perioperative nursing elective into nursing school curricula could be helpful to address the shortage of perioperative nurses.

“…With the current emphasis on patient safety in the United States, the perioperative setting provides an ideal learning environment for teaching students the concepts of safety . Many invasive medical interventions and changes to the patient's physiological status are initiated during operative and other invasive procedures, making the perioperative setting a particularly high‐risk environment.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of an Undergraduate Perioperative Nursing Course on Safety Knowledge

Danko¹

2019

Despite national initiatives and ongoing efforts, keeping patients safe remains a challenge. Education is the key to preparing health care professionals to be able to prevent errors and provide safe patient care. In the past three decades, perioperative courses have been removed from nearly every nursing program in the United States, thereby eliminating the chance for students to learn nursing skills and concepts related to safety in the perioperative environment. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a perioperative nursing course on junior baccalaureate nursing students' safety knowledge by testing students before and after they completed the course. Safety knowledge increased among the 44 student participants. Nursing program faculty members are encouraged to explore teaching opportunities beyond the traditional nursing educational model and include perioperative courses as part of the baccalaureate nursing curriculum to enhance patient safety.