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KEYWORDS: PERIOPERATIVE, NURSING, SIMULATION,TRAINING, EDUCATION.
ABSTRACT:
From January 2015 to July 2016 five cohorts, comprising 24 Registered Nurses and 22 Licensed Practical Nurses, from Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health in Edmonton, AB, successfully completed the AHS Perioperative Nursing Simulation Labs provided through the Centre for the Advancement of Minimally Invasive Surgery (CAMIS). All learners' experiences were self-evaluated in the areas of instruction, facilities, instruments, and usefulness. The evaluations indicated a high level of learner satisfaction that indicated the simulation training was effective and useful in enhancing the competency, confidence, and communication skills of novice perioperative nurses.
INTRODUCTION
Alberta Health Services (AHS) Perioperative Nursing Simulation Lab Training series, organized by The Centre for the Advancement of Minimally Invasive Surgery (CAMIS), has been used, since 2015, to supplement the clinical portion of the training program in the Edmonton Zone of AHS and Covenant Health. This education training program was outlined in the authors' article that was published in the June 2016 ORNAC Journal.4 This manuscript provides a follow up by-sharing insight in to the evaluation of the learners' satisfaction with their experiences as demonstrated by their specific rankings for instruction, facilities, instruments, and usefulness.
BACKGROUND
Multi-faceted, operating room simulations provide perioperative nurses with opportunities to focus on best practice by enhancing their knowledge and their psychomotor and analytical skills. Critical thinking, essential when dealing with high-acuitv patients, is promoted in this safe, lab learning environment.'
Post-scenario debriefing and discussion helps reinforce and clarify knowledge and skills. This is acknowledged by Speed (2015) who suggests that the thought process of adult learners is supported through "self- concept, a need to know, readiness to learn, orientation to learning, past experience and motivation." l(p. 205)
INTERVENTION
From January 2015 to July 2016, five cohorts including 24 Registered Nurses and 22 Licensed Practical Nurses successfully completed the simulation training program. The learners were new graduates or nurses from different hospitals with various experience and specialties (e.g. Medicine, Surgery, Long Term Care, Mental Health, Critical Care) who had now been hired as perioperative nurses. These nurses came from various hospital sites within AHS' and Covenant Health's Edmonton Zone.
The simulation labs included approximately 80 training hours. The training focused on a range of topics including anaesthesia, crisis management, post-operative care, surgery...