Tennessee RN first assistant survey data--what types of perioperative education are needed?

Many nursing programs removed perioperative education from their curriculum as early as the late 1960s, and perioperative nursing is now experiencing the consequences. Fewer perioperatively educated graduates are available, the workforce of experienced perioperative nurses is aging, and multiple career opportunities are luring perioperative nurses from the OR and nursing in general. Surveys were conducted in Tennessee to determine the knowledge about perioperative nursing roles and responsibilities. These survey results demonstrate the need for nurses, nursing programs, and hospitals to collaborate in developing guidelines, programs, and evaluation processes based on national perioperative standards.     

Partnerships,Succession, and Student Engagement: A Perioperative Immersion Program

The current shortage of operating room (OR) nurses will be critically impacted by the planned retirement of 65% of its workforce by 2022 with more vacancies expected in the years to come. Another likely contributor to the OR nursing shortage may be because most clinical education experiences in nursing programs do not include rotations in the perioperative setting, thus limiting student exposure. One solution to introduce student nurses to the perioperative environment and mitigate the limitations of passive learning for today’s learners is providing an on-site perioperative immersion experience delivered by the OR nurse education team. Nurse educators teaching in a baccalaureate nursing program at a midwestern college collaborated with the perioperative nursing education team from a large metropolitan hospital to implement a perioperative immersion program for entry-level undergraduate nursing students. In qualitative evaluations, the perioperative immersion increased knowledge of the patient perioperative experience, exposed students to both OR nursing and interdisciplinary team roles and responsibilities, and generated interest in the OR as a future career path.     

Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) in house Perioperative Nursing Program

The Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) in liaison with the University of Victoria (UVIC) offers an introduction to Perioperative Nursing Program to 4th Year undergraduate nursing students. The aim of this program is to help recruit Registered Nurses to the Operating Room. It has been advantageous to the recruitment and retention of nurses graduating from UVIC. Its importance is increased by the fact that a significant quantity of Victoria's perioperative nurses will be retiring in the next few years. Due to the high cost of nursing education and the financial investment that has already been committed by nursing students, the Perioperative nursing program is free to the student as the program can be included, for the successful candidate, as part of the UVIC nursing course. The intention is to encourage participation by reducing the financial burden, stress, and anxiety for the new graduate who intends to specialize. In return, the student is required to work in the VIHA for a minimum of one year, thus supporting the retention efforts of the hospital. For eligible nursing students, this program provides access to extensive perioperative nursing experience. Over the course of 3 months they are exposed to extensive theory in a classroom setting as well as clinical practice through a preceptorship program. The mentoring relationships that develop between perioperative nurses and students lead to meaningful relationships and professional growth for staff. The perioperative focus of the program improves the knowledge and skill set of nursing students. The intent is to increase nursing student's interest in pursuing a career as a perioperative nurse and to help ensure continued growth of the perioperative nursing profession in Victoria.     

Enhancing the undergraduate nursing education experience with clinical elective courses

The nursing faculty, in concert with the University's vision of personalized learning for undergraduate students, sought creative opportunities for nursing students to explore distinctive career specialty paths. The development, implementation, and evaluation of three undergraduate clinical electives developed by a School of Nursing (SON) is described here, in collaboration with three clinical practice partners. These nursing elective courses were designed to meet student requests for additional content in specialty nursing practice areas, enhance new nurse career readiness, and meet practice partner staffing needs for nurses with additional knowledge and skills in specific identified specialties. These nursing specialties included perioperative nursing, neonatal intensive care nursing, and oncology nursing. The SON faculty and each practice partner co-developed unique specialty-nursing elective courses that provide foundational specialty knowledge and skills in each practice arena. Project outcomes include enhanced relationships between the SON and practice partners, high levels of satisfaction of students and employers, and subsequent recruitment and employment of these students as new graduate nurses by our practice partners.     

Mentorship: a key to retention and recruitment.

Currently there is renewed interest in the selection of nursing as a career. As nursing education programs graduate more new nurses, the challenge is passed to the clinical agencies to provide an environment in which these novice nurses can flourish and remain engaged in providing quality nursing care. Mentorship programs are essential strategies to retain them in clinical practice as they begin their evolution as professional nurses.     

Job embeddedness factors and retention of nurses with 1 to 3 years of experience

An aging work force, predictions of job growth in health care, and an eventual economic recovery suggest that the current reprieve from the national nursing shortage is temporary. New graduate nurses are an important part of the work force and are needed to replace nurses who will retire in the next decade. Organizational leaders can address the forecasted work force demand by proactively investing in programs for workplace development and retention. Recent literature reports an increased focus on understanding the work experience and career support needed for new graduate nurses. Several studies report improvements in job satisfaction and retention after implementation of structured mentoring programs for new graduate nurses. However, despite successful transition programs, turnover for these same nurses after 1 to 3 years of organizational tenure remains high. Studying factors that contribute to retention and supporting careers beyond the first year of practice may have a significant effect on improving retention and will contribute new knowledge to the nursing literature. This study, undertaken at a Midwestern pediatric academic medical center, examined job factors and career development support that lead to retention of nurses with 1 to 3 years of experience. Understanding these issues may guide nursing leaders and staff development educators in investing in focused retention and career development plans during an economic recession.     

Opening the doors to the OR: providing students with perioperative clinical experiences

For the past two decades, perioperative nurse leaders have written about the need for more perioperative nurses. Only a small percentage of all nurses are perioperative nurses, and within the next five years, it is estimated that nearly 20% of those currently employed will retire while demand for nurses will continue to increase. This is occurring at a time when most nursing schools have eliminated the theoretical content and clinical exposure to a perioperative curriculum. In response to these issues, faculty members at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, in collaboration with perioperative educators, developed programs to provide nursing students and RNs with the opportunity to experience perioperative nursing. We offered senior nursing students a 15-week clinical practicum and capstone experience at North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY, and we offered RNs and students a two-week introductory OR experience at Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook, NY. We believe these types of programs could offer a partial solution to the perioperative nursing shortage and reduce nurse attrition in the perioperative setting.     

A precepted perioperative elective for baccalaureate nursing students

A major factor contributing to the recruitment crisis in perioperative nursing is the lack of perioperative experiences offered to nursing students. A clinical elective designed to provide interested baccalaureate nursing students with OR experience was implemented at one university. A faculty member collaborated with perioperative nurses from area hospitals to provide a 36-hour, precepted perioperative experience. The course allows students to learn about the perioperative nursing role and helps them develop nursing skills. Students acknowledged that this brief experience was adequate to meet their learning needs and help them decide whether they wanted to pursue further a career in perioperative nursing. AORN J 76 (Dec 2002) 1032-1040.     

Educating for the future

The current lack of perioperative clinical rotations in nursing schools makes it imperative that perioperative nurses create ways to entice the next generation of nurses to work in the OR. At Danbury Hospital, Danbury, Connecticut, the OR manager and clinical educators looked at the challenges that nursing students face in the perioperative clinical setting and created an orientation to help to ease their fears about observing in the OR, familiarize them with the perioperative nursing role, and perhaps encourage more nursing students to consider perioperative nursing as a career. We used the "AORN guidance statement: The value of clinical learning activities in the perioperative setting in undergraduate nursing curricula" as a framework for a perioperative orientation class that addresses the challenges and meets the students' academic goals. We also used the nursing curriculum objectives from Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, to plan the students' clinical experience in surgery. Our approach has attracted more student interest in perioperative nursing than in previous years, resulting in more students requesting a perioperative clinical rotation or senior practicum.     

The nursing faculty shortage: Is there hope?

The present nursing faculty shortage is linked to the general nursing shortage. Without enough nurse educators to teach the increasing number of nurses that are needed, the health of U.S. residents is at stake. This article examines progress made on solutions proposed over the past decade such as increasing graduate and certificate programs for nurse educators, more aggressive recruitment of graduate students into faculty roles, and delayed retirement of current faculty. Potential new solutions are proposed. These include: fast-track bachelor's of science in nursing to doctor of philosophy curricula; recruiting advanced practice nurses (APNs) into faculty roles with arrangements made for clinical practice time; raising the image of nursing education as a prestigious career; developing national certification for nurse educators; and partnering with health care agencies. Linking the general nursing shortage with the faculty shortage may provide a stronger case for public policy and funding initiatives. There are signs that some initiatives are working. Present faculty need to maintain a culture of hope while potential solutions are being implemented.     

实习护生职业成熟度与实习影响因素相关性研究

目的探讨实习护生职业成熟度与临床实习影响因素的相关性。方法采用护生职业成熟度量表和自行设计临床实习影响因素测评表,对中医院校165名本科临床实习护生进行护生职业成熟度和临床实习影响因素测评,并运用双变量Spearman进行相关分析。结果实习影响因素与护生职业成熟度有相关性(P≤0.01),且实习过程管理与职业成熟度各因子相关性最显著。结论了解护生职业成熟度与临床实习过程各影响因素之间关系,有助于改进和完善临床实习管理,提高护生的职业成熟度。     

Practice and education: partnering to address the perioperative nursing shortage

WITH THE GROWING SHORTAGE of nurses in the workforce, perioperative leaders are facing a significant challenge in recruiting new nurses who are committed to perioperative nursing.ONE MEDICAL CENTER in northern Florida developed a successful summer externship program to introduce nursing students to the perioperative environment. The program incorporates both didactic and clinical experiences.STUDENTS WHO COMPLETE the program are better prepared and motivated to choose a career in perioperative nursing. The retention rate for nurses from the externship program who were hired into the OR in which the program was conducted was 89% after two years. AORN J 86 (August 2007) 259-264. © AORN, Inc, 2007.     

What do high school guidance counselors really think of nursing?

With the increasing nursing shortage, it is imperative that nursing programs attract and retain students who will be successful in becoming competent, caring practitioners. High school guidance counselors can influence the career choices of students. To do so, these professionals must have an accurate understanding of the attributes that will facilitate a career in nursing, as well as the changing roles of nurses. This study determined the current perceptions of high school guidance counselors regarding nursing. Overall, guidance counselors had realistic perceptions of nursing and identified personal and cognitive attributes of students that would promote success in nursing. However, nurses involved in the recruitment of students need to ensure that guidance counselors have more accurate perceptions of the changing role of nurses, opportunities for practice outside hospital settings, and the importance of problem-solving abilities and leadership skills for nurses.     

Kuwaiti high school students' perceptions of nursing as a profession: implications for nursing education and practice

The shortage of nurses in Kuwait is attributed to low production of indigenous nurses, resignation and emigration of foreign nurses, and expansion of health care facilities. This study explored Kuwaiti high school students' perceptions of nursing as a profession, their sources of information about nursing, and factors that affected their choice of nursing as a future career. Questionnaires from 289 students attending seven all-female high schools in Kuwait were analyzed. The results revealed that all of the participants were knowledgeable about the functional aspects of the nursing profession, and 35% of them received this information through contact with nurses during hospital visits. However, only 19% indicated they might consider nursing as a future career. The implications of the study for nursing education and practice, and strategies to attract and retain indigenous high school graduates into nursing programs in Kuwait are discussed.     

What perioperative and emerging workforce nurses want in a manager

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THE WORLD is experiencing a critical shortage of RNs. As the number of nurses decreases, it is unclear how already vulnerable specialty areas, such as perioperative nursing, will be affected by the emerging workforce's career decisions.

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THIS DESCRIPTIVE, COMPARATIVE study explores perioperative nurses' and nursing students' perceptions of the top 10 characteristics desired in a manager.

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EVEN WITH 70% CONGRUENCY, significant differences were found in how nurses and students ranked the traits they valued.

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THIS STUDY highlights the trails managers need to transform new graduate nurses into satisfied, productive members of the perioperative team. AORN J 78 (August 2003) 246-261.

     

Promoting the scholarship of research for faculty and students.

Research has become a highly valued activity for nurses. Students at the undergraduate and graduate levels are experiencing more and more research in their programs. As part of the faculty role in higher education, promotion and tenure are tied to the scholarship of research. Yet many schools of nursing do not have a well-developed capacity of nursing faculty members who have the knowledge and skills to competently engage in a research program of their own or to guide and inspire students to pursue a research career. This paper is an attempt to challenge administrators to more aggressively promote research, and faculty and students to think more intensively about the scholarship of research. The challenges of developing a program of research for promoting faculty and students' research are discussed. Strategies for promoting faculty research and advice for beginning researchers are included.     

Implementation of an intraoperative clinical experience for senior level baccalaureate nursing students

Perioperative nursing is a specialty that has been eliminated from many nursing education programs. With the loss of perioperative clinical experiences, the number of students pursuing a career in perioperative nursing after graduation has declined. A faculty member at one Midwestern school of nursing developed and implemented a perioperative clinical experience for senior-level baccalaureate nursing students in a critical care nursing course. This program, developed with the assistance of four local hospitals and the college of nursing, included an eight-hour OR orientation and 56 clinical hours. Students were placed in the OR under preceptor guidance and supervision. Feedback from evaluations was positive and provided recommendations for improving the program, in particular, to allow more clinical hours and more hands-on experience for the students.     

Integrating experienced and novice nurses into graduate home health education.

Preparing master's-level professionals in home health nursing presents challenges because nurses come to graduate programs with varying degrees of home health experience. The purpose of this study was to examine how nurses with varying experience in home health nursing are integrated into graduate clinical practicum courses. Representations of 10 home health graduate programs were surveyed regarding how they adapt their clinical practicums to meet the special needs of their novice and experienced nurses. Respondents revealed that individualization was used to meet the individual needs of students. Individualization allows for creativity in developing learning experiences that are both challenging and satisfying for the student. However, lack of consistency in the advanced practice skills of graduates, and lack of time efficiency for faculty and agency personnel can also occur. Faculty members need to share creative ways of teaching students, to identify unique opportunities for clinical experiences, and to collaborate on research.