Perioperative Nurse Recruitment: An OR Placement Program for Fourth‐Year Nursing Students in Ontario

Abstract

Nursing associations have predicted a worldwide shortage of perioperative RNs as more nurses reach retirement age. Additionally, the lack of perioperative exposure during undergraduate nursing programs is contributing to the failure to attract recently graduated nurses to this field. In 2019, multiple hospital sites within the St. Lawrence College network in Ontario, Canada, expressed difficulty recruiting perioperative RNs and expressed an interest in collaborating with the college to increase exposure to the perioperative specialty and recruit students to their ORs after graduation. The college has run a successful preceptor-supported OR placement program for fourthyear baccalaureate nursing students since 2019. Eleven out of thirteen students were hired into the OR after their 2020-2021 placement program. This article outlines the steps taken to initiate this program as well as results of a formal program evaluation conducted in 2021, including detailed feedback from participating students, preceptors, and leaders at the involved hospitals.

Implementation of a Blended‐Learning Perioperative Nursing Education Program in Canada

“…3 In an effort to reduce this backlog, the Ontario government increased funding to expand surgical capacity by 67,000 procedures and allow hospitals to provide care at 110% to 115% capacity. 4 Although strategies were initiated to achieve this goal (eg, expanding scheduled OR time), positions for nurses with perioperative experience remained vacant across hospitals in Ontario, 5 which made it difficult to provide nurses to work the expanded hours. they were eligible to retire; approximately 25% of those eligible planned to do so within two years post pandemic.…”