278 - An Assessment of OR Nurses Resiliency Across Three Unique Healthcare Systems; Comparing Apples to Oranges to ..
Clinical Issue: The pride of being a registered nurse resonates throughout all specialties of the profession, but any perioperative nurse will admit resilience is required to work in the Operating Room (OR). OR nurses are placed in a unique position of being the “manager” of an operating room providing guidance, ensuring compliance, safeguarding patients and the environment. At times, OR nurses meet overwhelming resistance from team members in positions of greater authority while attempting to perform their duties in this intensely dynamic environment. Oxford Dictionary defines resilience as "the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness". The most dedicated nurses persevere, ensure patient safety and maintain professional integrity.
Objective: The goal of this project is to obtain a measurement of resiliency of OR nurses from three healthcare systems with unique process management. During this time of critical nursing needs resilience is imperative to prevent emotional burnout particularly in specialized, hard to fill areas like the operating room. OR nurses may have one patient at a time coordinating care and ensuring safety simultaneously. Care is provided for several members of one team with competing degrees of urgency taxing the mental, physical, and emotional stamina of the OR RN often resulting exhaustion and/or burnout. The Team: The Team: A team of three nurses represented by each facility obtained feedback from Registered Nurses (RN), Surgical Assistants, and Surgical Technologists regarding resiliency. However, only the data collected from RNs was used for this poster.
Method: Data was collected using the General Self-Efficacy Scale which allows for a measurement of self-confidence, coping skills, and ability to adapt in stressful situations. Implementations:1. Share methods to promote physical, mental, and emotional recovery, 2. Utilize team-building activities to strengthen collegiality among co-workers to maintain resiliency and prevent burnout. 3. Celebrate small wins. 4. Implement a hardwired recognition system. Outcome: The information collected is a baseline to open discussions for support (emotional or physical) of the OR nurse. The team which yielded the highest score, also has the greatest opportunity to exercise resilience due to the diverse case load, being a level one trauma center. Nursing in any area is stressful! Each day provides an opportunity to share our ideas of how to be more resilient in our nursing experiences which can lead to increased hope and possibly change our working environments. Let’s be intentional with efforts to keep the OR staff strong.
