Summary

• Perioperative nursing is the care that nurses provide to patients before, during and after surgery.

• Perioperative nursing encompasses three phases: preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative.

• The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) sets the standards and guidelines for perioperative nursing practice.

• Surgical procedures can be classified by body system, purpose, degree of urgency, and degree of risk.

• Never events are serious and costly errors that result in severe consequences for the patient.

• They are called never events because they should never happen in the surgical setting.

• The preoperative phase begins when the patient decides to have surgery and ends when the patient enters the OR.

• This phase includes all preparations for the surgery, such as obtaining informed consent, performing diagnostic tests, providing patient education, assessing physical and psychosocial status, identifying potential risks and complications, planning care and interventions, administering preoperative medications and transferring the patient to the OR.

• The intraoperative phase begins when the patient enters the OR and ends when the patient is transferred to the PACU.

• This phase consists of all activities that occur during the surgery, such as positioning the patient on the operating table, administering anesthesia, performing surgical asepsis and sterile technique, monitoring vital signs and other parameters, assisting with surgical procedures, counting instruments and sponges, documenting events and transferring the patient to the PACU.

• The postoperative phase begins when the patient is transferred to the PACU and ends when the patient is discharged from the hospital or facility.

• This phase includes all activities that occur after the surgery, such as monitoring vital signs and other parameters, assessing pain and wound healing, preventing complications, providing education and support, and promoting recovery.