The Relevance of Operating Room Nurse Residency Program

Need for Operating Room Nurse Residency Program
A Review of Literature
Previous studies have indicated that in other specialties, nurse residency programs have been largely successful in seeking to stem nursing shortages. However, very few studies have attempted to evaluate as well as assess the effectiveness and success rate of nurse residency programs in relation to operating room nurses. It is important to note that there is a looming crisis in the horizon in relation to the shortage of operating room nurses (Brown, Belgard, Washington, and Grueso, 2017). The effects this continued shortage could have on perioperative nursing could be dire. Towards this end, the relevance of assessing the relevance of nurse residency programs in seeking to address this concern cannot be overstated.
In the words of Zinn, Guglielmi, Davis, and Moses (2012), “as experienced nurses leave the workforce, new graduate nurses are the supply pipeline to acute care hospitals” (653). This is an assertion echoed by Finkelman and Kenner (2014). As Zinn, Guglielmi, Davis, and Moses (2012) further point out, assuming that perioperative nurses takes at least 1 year to develop proficiency in their role, it would be wrong to assume that graduates fresh from medical school will “transition into practice without participating in a nurse residency program.” According to Huston (2013), low job satisfaction has been cited as one of the contributors to a high turnover rate among new graduate nurses. Thus, there is a need for a transition setup such as the graduate residency programs to enable new operating room nurses to transition effectively. McDonald and Smith (2012) are of the opinion that nurse residency programs are effective evidence-based graduate nurse retention interventions. In the words of the authors, studies have clearly indicated that “turnover rates among new graduate nurses could be decreased and job satisfaction could be increased by implementing a residency program” (McDonald and Smith, 2012, p. E19).
Sadler (2018) is of the opinion that one of the solutions that ought to be explored in seeking to fix OR nurse shortage is ongoing training and education. The fact that undergraduate programs do not include the principles of perioperative practice has been a significant challenge in operating room nurse staffing (Sadler, 2018). In the words of Bakewell (as cited in Sadler, 2018), “this makes it difficult to hire new nursing school graduates into the perioperative setting.” The proposed solution, according to Sadler (2018) includes the implementation of ongoing perioperative training and education opportunities such as residencies.
One other factor that has been branded as a key contributor to the shortage of operating room nurses is an exiting workforce in the said arena through retirement. As a matter of fact, OR nurse shortages as a consequence of the retiring workforce begun in the late 1990s (Fieldman et al., 2011). More specifically, “because older RNs (over 50 years) dominated operating room and perioperative staffing, when these RNs begun retiring in the late 1990s, hospitals reported shortages of operating room RNs (Fieldman et al., 2011). The situation is likely to get worse going forward if nothing is done to rectify the situation. Evans and Tabloski (2017) brand residency programs as the best approach in succession planning. This, according to the authors, is more so the case given the need to ensure that those replacing those exiting due to retirement have a good foundation that facilitates their transition from novice to expert. Walker (2017) is of the opinion that mass retirement of perioperative nurses ought to be anticipated going forward. The said mass retirement would make a bad situation worse and escalate the current shortages (Rothrock, 2018). This further underlines the need to further examine intervention measures such as the nurse residency programs.


References
Brown, L., Belgard, D., Washington, N. & Grueso, S. (2017). Operating Room Nurse Residency and Specialty Educators: Paramount in the Success of Novice Nurse Retention. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 8(5), 20-25.
Evans, J. & Tabloski, P.A. (2017). Redefining Retirement for Nurses. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau
Fieldman, H.R., Greenberg, M.J., Jaffe-Ruiz, M., McClure, M.L., McBride, B., Smith, T.D. & Alexander, R. (Eds.). (2011). Nursing Leadership: A Concise Encyclopedia (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
Finkelman, A. & Kenner, C. (2014). Professional Nursing Concepts (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers
Huston, C.J. (2013). Professional Issues in Nursing: Challenges and Opportunities (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
McDonald, A.W. & Smith, P.W. (2012). A Review of Evidence-Based Strategies to Retain Graduate Nurses in the Profession. Journal for Nurses in Staff Development, 28(1), E16-E20.
Rothrock, J.C. (2018). Alexander's Care of the Patient in Surgery (16th ed.). New York, NY: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Sadler, D. (2018). Staffing Shortage Solutions: How Education and Training Help. Retrieved from http://ortoday.com/staffing-shortage-solutions-how-education-and-training-help/
Walker, N. (2017). Embrace Action: Protect the Future of Nursing. AORN Journal, 105 (6), 535-537.
Zinn, J.L., Guglielmi, C.L., Davis, P.P. & Moses, C. (2012). Addressing the Nursing Shortage: The Need for Nurse Residency Programs. AORN Journal, 96(6), 652-657.