Surgical Nursing Orientation

The Surgical Nursing Orientation program is a 12-week combined classroom, observation and clinical experience designed to help the new graduate nurse transition into the surgical setting. The classroom component consists of two days of didactic information related to the specialty of surgical nursing. The observation experience includes one day in the operating room. The 12-week clinical experience consists of a guided and mentored experience with an expert surgical preceptor. The new graduate nurse will learn to apply pathophysiology and scientific principles of surgical disorders to the planning of patient care. The specialty of surgical nursing requires strong teamwork and collaboration among health care disciplines and the use of 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 surgical nursing and to prepare the nurse for future career goals in nursing.