title: Australian operating room registered nurse education: a national study comparing two types of healthcare technology.
abstract: A random sample of operating room registered nurses (N = 258) working in hospitals throughout Australia was surveyed to compare how and what they initially learned about two types of healthcare technology--the count procedure and the electrosurgical unit (ESU)--and the consequences of their use. The most frequently identified method of initially learning to use both technologies was receiving instruction from a staff member on their unit. A comparison of what registered nurses initially learned about the technologies revealed that nurses were significantly more likely to learn more about the count procedure. The count procedure and ESU caused less than one-third of nurses to experience stress; participants were significantly less likely to have had an inaccurate count procedure result in patient harm (10.1%) than to have used an ESU that caused patient harm (17.4%).
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research into Nursing and Health Care, University of South Australia, Underdale.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: McConnell
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hilbig
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003625:Data Collection; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000379:methods*; D004598:Electrosurgery / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D007858:Learning; D008875:Middle Aged; D009871:Operating Room Nursing / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D013523:Surgical Equipment; D013525:Surgical Instruments; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires