Undergraduate surgical nursing preparation and guided operating room experience: A quantitative analysis

• Not all undergraduate nurses have experience in the operating theatre as students.
• This research looked at the value of theatre experience in preparing nurses for surgical ward nursing.
• It compared the differences between guided and non-guided (or no) theatre experience.
• Knowledge was greater when students received guided theatre experience.

The aim of this research was to determine if guided operating theatre experience in the undergraduate nursing curricula enhanced surgical knowledge and understanding of nursing care provided outside this specialist area in the pre- and post-operative surgical wards.Using quantitative analyses, undergraduate nurses were knowledge tested on areas of pre- and post-operative surgical nursing in their final semester of study. As much learning occurs in nurses' first year of practice, participants were re-tested again after their Graduate Nurse Program/Preceptorship year. Participants' results were compared to the model of operating room education they had participated in to determine if there was a relationship between the type of theatre education they experienced (if any) and their knowledge of surgical ward nursing.Findings revealed undergraduates nurses receiving guided operating theatre experience had a 76% pass rate compared to 56% with non-guided or no experience (p < 0.001). Graduates with guided operating theatre experience as undergraduates or graduate nurses achieved a 100% pass rate compared to 53% with non-guided or no experience (p < 0.001).The research informs us that undergraduate nurses achieve greater learning about surgical ward nursing via guided operating room experience as opposed to surgical ward nursing experience alone.