Effective Training for Novice Nurses Transition to the Perioperative Role: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

Background: For novice nurses, a big struggle has been transitioning to the perioperative nursing role. Having a limited amount of experienced perioperative nurses available has created an impact on hospitals to provide extensive training and education for the novice nurse transitioning to this new role.

Purpose of Study: The purpose of this study is to review the efficiency of training for perioperative nurses. This study will help identify best practices for educating new nurses in the operating room as they transition into the operating room.

Method: An integrative literature review was utilized to evaluate peer-reviewed articles published from 2010 and 2019 from two databases, CINAHL and PubMed. The search terms included: perioperative education, operating room education, perioperative nursing, operating room nurse education, nurses’ transition to perioperative. This process yielded six articles.

Result: The findings of the literature review reported two perioperative training programs and three common effective transitional components were identified across the six articles reviewed. These training programs included Education Programs within particular healthcare systems and private Clinical Education Centers in the communities. Transitional components comprised of a positive atmosphere for the novice nurses, practicing guided practical experience, as well as pursuing further educational studies.

Conclusion: This integrative literature review concluded that further studies are needed to be able to identify specific training programs available for the novice perioperative nurse.

Keywords: perioperative novice nurse, perioperative nurse training programs, novice to expert perioperative nursing