Improving Associate Degree Nursing Students' Perioperative Clinical Observation Experiences

For associate degree nursing students at Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, the perioperative nursing clinical experience typically included a one-day observation of a surgical procedure, with students entering the OR suite after the surgery started and having to leave before the surgery was completed. An associate professor of nursing and a perioperative staff education coordinator partnered to address this lack of a complete perioperative experience for students and offer a more formal OR experience. The clinical experience was altered to provide relevant didactic perioperative nursing content in class before the clinical day, a group orientation, and observation in the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative areas. Reactions of students and perioperative staff members to these changes were positive.