The role of perioperative nursing

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The demand for high-quality, cost-effective health care in the United States is growing expeditiously due to the passage of the Affordable Health Care Act in 2010, the lack of physicians specializing in primary care and the shortage of graduate level educated nurses (Watson, 2007). The new expectations for access, quality and affordability within the health care system are creating opportunities for nurse practitioners to expand their roles as advance practice nurse specialists (Watson, 2007). This paper will examine the role of the perioperative nurse practitioner. This examination will define perioperative nursing, give a brief history of operating room nursing, and look closely at the role of the nurse practitioner in pre-operative, intra-operative and post-operative care. This paper will report the evidence-based findings that nurse practitioners in the perioperative setting, when compared to physician-only facilitated care, create an equally therapeutic and healing environment for patients and families, improve the efficacy of surgical procedures and increase patient satisfaction with surgical outcomes. Other topics that will be examined include educational training, the scope of practice for nurse practitioners within the perioperative setting and the application of the holistic nursing approach in perioperative care. The final area this paper will examine is The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Report on the Future of Nursing and how it’s recommendations have the potential to change perioperative nursing. What is Perioperative Nursing? Perioperative nursing is a specialized area of practice that works with patients before (preoperative), during (intraoperative) and after (postoperative) surgery (Potter et al., 2013). It is pra... ... middle of paper ... ...ursing still continues to decline today because students do not have access to perioperative education in nursing school and once a new nurse has entered the professional medical field, there are no clear pathways to become a perioperative nurse. Works Cited Battie, R. (2013). The IOM Report on the Future of Nursing: What Perioperative Nurses Need to Know. AORN Journal, 98, 227-234. Potter, P., Perry, A., Stockert, P., Hall, A. (2013). Fundamentals of Nursing, (8th Ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby. Seliman, D., Andsoy, I. (2011). The Importance of a Holistic Approach During the Perioperative Period. AORN Journal, 93, 482-486. Wade, P. (2012). Historical Trends Influencing the Future of Perioperative Nursing. ORNAC Journal, 30, 22-25. Watson, D. (2007). The Multidimensional Role of the Perioperative Nurse Practitioner. Perioperative Nursing Clinics, 2, 19-21.

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