Why Perioperative Nursing? 

Perioperative nursing is among the few nursing specialties where you can experience the ultimate in the nursing process, one patient at a time. It embraces the realities of everyday situations while providing safe and competent care to surgical patients.

If you are willing to seek challenges while working in a fast-paced and highly technically skilled nursing arena, perioperative nursing is what you are looking for. 

The fellowship is open to all experienced nurses without operating room experience and new graduates that desire working in the perioperative field. Earn as you learn while working in our caring environment under the guidance of the OR education team.

A True Learning Environment

The facilities assist RN fellows with online didactic learning and hands-on skills that are essential to being successful in the OR.   

The fellowship is a six-month program designed for RNs to gain the necessary skills to work in the perioperative environment. Using AORN guidelines and standards, the program consists of approximately six weeks of classroom instruction and approximately four months of clinical orientation. 

At the program's conclusion, the nurse will have a full understanding of both the scrub and circulating roles for the pediatric patient and will have learned the skills necessary to begin their career as a novice OR nurse.

This comprehensive curriculum includes 27 topic areas, including scrubbing, gowning and gloving, circulating, instrumentation, anesthesia, assessment and positioning of the pediatric patient, and will also include rotations through day surgery, PACU, anesthesia, and the sterile processing department. Upon completion, the nurse will move to a perioperative nurse position within the main operating room.

Application Process

If you have questions regarding this program, contact Pamela Johnston, BSN, RN at (757) 668-7023 or email her at Pamela.Johnston@chkd.org.