A Perioperative Specialty Elective to Address the Perioperative Nursing Shortage: Student Perspectives and Outcomes

Abstract

To help solve the perioperative nursing shortage, it is imperative that health care leaders understand why students choose or do not choose to pursue a career in perioperative nursing. In May 2021, we published the results of a specialty elective course evaluation from a leadership and perioperative services personnel perspective; in the current article, we examine the same program from the students’ perspective. We distributed survey links to undergraduate nursing students to evaluate their perioperative knowledge before and after completing the course. Students reported large gains in knowledge, critical thinking, teamwork, and confidence at course completion, but the posttest mean number of students with an interest in pursuing perioperative nursing was lower than the pretest mean. This realization is perceived as a positive outcome of the perioperative elective course because it may lead to a decrease in turnover among newly hired perioperative nurses.