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.