The Effect of an Undergraduate Perioperative Nursing Course on Safety Knowledge

Abstract

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.

An Examination of the Career Choices of Nursing Graduates After Completing a Perioperative Elective

“…The purpose of this study was to examine nursing career choices after graduation among individuals who completed a perioperative elective. Twenty‐five (38%) of the 65 participants who completed the perioperative elective entered the field after graduation, a finding that aligns with the literature indicating that exposure of nursing students to the field of perioperative nursing during their undergraduate studies may well contribute to their entry into the specialty 5‐12,16,27,31,32 . The situation variable 25 prevailed in the qualitative comments, but a case also can be made for its effect on the quantitative findings because of the variety of situations readily available to the students that exposed them to perioperative practice.…”

“…Factors contributing to the current perioperative nursing shortage consist of academic concerns and issues associated with work environments. Academic factors in undergraduate nursing programs include a lack of specialty education (eg, didactic and clinical exposure to perioperative nursing), 5‐10 a lack of perioperative nurse faculty to teach content, 11 and the perception that the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX‐RN) does not include perioperative content and therefore it does not need to be included in the curriculum 12 …”