Orthopedic Trauma Nursing Orientation

The Orthopedic Trauma Nursing Orientation program is a 12-week combined classroom, observation and clinical experience designed to help the new graduate nurse transition into the orthopedic trauma clinical setting. The classroom component consists of two days of didactic information related to the specialty of orthopedic trauma and two days of basic ECG interpretation. The observation experiences include one day each in the operating room, Inova Rehabilitation Center, Inova Cares at Home and one day combined classroom and observation experience in the Department of Rehabilitation at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

The eight-week clinical experience consists of a guided and mentored experience with an expert orthopedic trauma preceptor. The new graduate nurse learns to apply pathophysiology and scientific principles of orthopedic disorders and trauma to the planning of patient care. Orthopedic trauma requires strong teamwork, collaboration among health care disciplines and critical thinking skills to assure accurate and safe patient outcomes. The purpose of these combined experiences is to develop clinical competence in the specialty of orthopedic trauma and to prepare the nurse for future career goals in trauma care.