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Perioperative leaders know that highly engaged OR teams may contribute to better patient outcomes, higher levels of employee satisfaction, and improved employee retention rates. However, many perioperative leaders do not adequately engage surgical technologists (STs) in unit decision-making processes. At the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) in Philadelphia, a multidisciplinary team led by perioperative leaders (HUP Perioperative Nurse Leaders) Taneka Young-Curtis, BSN, RN, CNOR, and Katharine Geiger, MSN, RN, CNOR, applied a shared-governance model to create an ST committee. Giving STs a formal platform to make decisions and develop processes that drive quality and influence professional practice has produced measurable successes in job satisfaction, retention, and practice engagement. The ST committee also has strengthened the culture of collaboration and engagement throughout the perioperative department.
Now in its third year, the ST committee has shown its value by positively affecting engagement and quality outcomes. The HUP Perioperative Nurse Leaders recently shared with the AORN Journal what they learned about launching and sustaining a successful ST committee and tips for perioperative leaders interested in engaging their own ST professionals in a similar way.
AORN Journal: What was the problem you were trying to address?
HUP Perioperative Nurse Leaders: Although our nurses had a robust shared-governance model, our STs did not have a formal way to come together and discuss practice improvements. We needed an organized way for our STs to address important practice issues, such as orientation and retention. We also saw the value of empowering STs to feel they had an equal voice among our perioperative staff members. In our high-stress environment, we wanted STs to recognize that they could influence safety and quality while improving teamwork and camaraderie to deliver exceptional patient care. Additionally, we wanted to align the goals of the ST committee with the Penn Medicine organizational mission of addressing the needs of the surrounding community through support and service.
AORN Journal: How did you recruit and engage members, and how did you decide on committee projects and objectives?
HUP Perioperative Nurse Leaders: We sent an e-mail to all STs on the unit to query interest in the committee...