AHL 223 - Perioperative Nursing III

9.5 Continuing Education Units (CEU). This course is not for Credit(s).

This course is designed to prepare registered nurses to work in the operating room as a functioning member of the intraoperative team. Students will finalize the basic concepts and fundamentals of perioperative nursing. This course is the third in a series of three courses designed to equip RNs with the skills and knowledge to enable them to perform the necessary tasks to monitor the patient and operating room during and after surgery. Topics to be covered include: wound healing, dressings, and drains; post-operative patient care; pediatric, geriatric, and trauma surgery; and interventional procedures.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, the students should be able to:
1. differentiate among healing by primary, secondary, or tertiary intention;
2. analyze a clinical scenario to determine the type of wound healing presented;
3. describe the criteria for defining a surgical site infection (SSI) and analyze a scenario to determine the type and degree of SSI;
4. describe strategies to prevent infection, including patient preparation, actions applicable to surgical team members, and postoperative incision care;
5. differentiate among the phases of post anesthesia care and classify appropriate nursing interventions for each phase;
6. describe the components of the hand-off report between the operating room (OR) and post anesthesia care unit (PACU);
7. describe the effects of hypothermia in the post anesthesia period, identify vulnerable populations for hypothermia, and describe nursing interventions to address hypothermia;
8. explain the perioperative nursing considerations for pediatric & geriatric patients using the nursing process;
9. analyze a scenario and determine the most appropriate risk-reduction or patient education strategies for pediatric & geriatric patients;
10. describe the perioperative nursing considerations when caring for a geriatric patient in the perioperative period;
11. discuss the types of surgical procedures performed on geriatric patients and the perioperative nurse’s role for each within the context of the nursing process;
12. compare and contrast the type of care offered at the four levels of trauma centers;
13. describe the key elements of a trauma assessment;
14. discuss the perioperative nursing considerations for trauma patients using the nursing process;
15. describe the common types of trauma surgical procedures and the nursing implications;
16. identify the specialty equipment and supplies used in the interventional radiology (IR) setting and describe indications for their use; and
17. describe the roles and responsibilities of the radiology nurse.