New Graduates are Changing Trends in Operating Room Traffic

Abstract

The Jefferson College of Nursing (JCN) is affiliated with Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (TJUH), which is one of the top-ranked hospitals in the nation. TJUH is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Magnet® hospital for quality patient care, nursing excellence, and innovations in professional nursing practice. Since JCN is an integral part of Jefferson’s premier academic health center, it is imperative that the two entities maintain a partnership in clinical care education. JCN offers a concept based curriculum which promotes practice excellence, innovation, population health, and inter-professional collaboration. The innovative curriculum offers senior learners a selective immersion in which students can now request the perioperative department as a rotational site. Having this unique opportunity for seven weeks challenges students to collaborate with leadership and staff in the perioperative environment and promotes professional interactions in an otherwise unfamiliar department. Additionally, entering the perioperative environment is the perfect setting to observe quality, safety, communication, and stimulate clinical reasoning amongst a very vulnerable patient population. For those students whose interests were peaked or career paths confirmed, joining the perioperative team as a new graduate begins with the innovative program at JCN then continues with the hospital sponsored perioperative 101 class and nurse residency program. Exposure to procedural areas is minimal at best for most nursing programs and having the perioperative department as part of JCN’s selective immersion will not only benefit our graduates, it will also help support nursing stability for an otherwise hard to staff specialty division.