Perioperative Course - It takes a Methodist Hospital System Village

During the two week UHV May intersession 10 Second Degree BSN students and I embarked upon a Perioperative Nursing Elective Course. The Methodist Hospital and Methodist Sugar Land Hospital became a second home for the students and they learned more than they ever could imagine.

Week One
The first three days of the course were all didactic with Debra Belgard, MS, RN, CNOR as the guest expert from The Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. Students learned the concepts of Asepsis, Safety, Communication, Role of the OR nurse, skin preparation, positioning, traffic patterns and OR attire.

The fourth day the students went to the MITIE lab on The Methodist Hospital campus for an entire day of practice with simulation. There they practiced intake of the patient into the OR, scrubbing, gowning and gloving, instrumentation table, saftey and prepping. Twelve perioperative nurses from TMH volunteered their time to teach these students these skills. They were patient and guided the 10 students through every step of the way. The nurses demonstrated their professionalism in many ways such as teaching the why and how of what is done in the OR, the practice of skills to a novice comfort level, and the value of being a nurse and the important role of patient safety, teamwork and communication.

Day five the students observed an actual surgery in the dome at TMH. This was an important day as the students were able to put together all they had learned and practiced into an observational experience. They made observations about gloving, time out, and were able to discuss in greater detail their learning from the week.

Week Two
The Methodist Hospital Sugar Land perioperative staff welcomed the 10 students and me at report at 6:45am on Monday. Marlyn Tanvir, RN had the students assigned to a room in either a scrub nurse or circulating nurse role. My goal was for the students to scrub in at least once during the week. Some of the students were scrubbing in the FIRST day! The perioperative staff at Methodist Sugar Land were wonderful. They too exhibited the same professionalism as TMH.They took the students under their wing and let them participate in all the concepts they had learned in class and practiced in the simulation experience. The students were able to feel like they were part of the Methodist Sugar Land Hospital perioperative family by weeks end. They felt they contributed to the care of patients and had a feel for what being a nurse was like in the perioperative setting.

UHV School of Nursing profoundly thanks the nurses at The Methodist Hospital and Methodist Sugar Land Hospital for guiding, teaching and imparting your wisdom to these young nursing students. The weeks spent with you will always be a strong and postive part of their nursing school memory. It takes a village to teach our new nurses and The Methodist Hospital System was just the perfect village to teach perioperative nursing. THANK YOU!!