Fleming College

This 1-semester graduate certificate offers Registered Practical Nurses the skills to become a part of the surgical team, working with surgeons and anesthesiologists in an operating room setting. The program was developed to allow students to continue working while studying:

• In the first 14 weeks students learn theory through online material
• Two weekly online synchronous evening lectures, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, are recorded for those who are unable to join
• Three intensive weekend (Sat-Sun) labs, one each month during the semester, will take place in the Perioperative Nursing lab at the Sutherland Campus in Peterborough to develop and practice hands-on skills
• The design of the Perioperative Nursing lab at Fleming is specific to the fundamental knowledge required as a scrub nurse or circulating nurse
• The 14-week theory and labs are followed by a 160 hour preceptorship in an operating room, arranged by Fleming based on your top three choices of where you would like to practice.

Registered Practical Nurses (RPN) will advance their nursing skill in the operating room to be a member of the sterile team, in the role of scrub nurse, assisting the sterile team (Surgeon and Surgical Assistant) during the interoperative phase of the surgical experience. This will include preparing surgical instrumentations specific to surgical cases, assisting with instrumentation and the handing of surgical equipment to the sterile surgical team, ensuring sterility throughout the surgical case, prepping and draping the surgical patient while under anesthetics, and monitoring hemodynamics for patients during surgical procedures.

Through this program and with clinical placements in a working operating room, RPN nurses will become proficient in the understanding of surgical consciousness, develop an understanding of anatomy specific to surgery, learn surgical instrumentation and their specific uses in surgery, learn proper passing of instrumentation in the sterile field, develop understanding of the needs of the anesthetized patient, and learning the importance of surgical counts and medications used for the perioperative patient.

• Flexible, hybrid delivery to allow nurses to study while working
• Extensive lab practice in a dedicated perioperative lab
• Practical experience with increasing responsibility during the 160-hour placement
• Placement locations that take into consideration students’ preferences
• The certificate is designed in accordance with the Standards of Practice of the College of Nurses of Ontario, and in alignment with the guidelines and Standards of Practice of the Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada (ORNAC)

As part of the program, students will receive 160 hours of surgical time during their clinical placement, one on one with a Registered Practical Nurse in the Operating Room. Placements are arranged by Fleming based on a student’s top choices of operating room or location. During the placement students will experience increasing responsibility to help integrate theory and clinical practice and explore the roles and responsibilities of a Registered Practical perioperative nurse.

This specialization can open more employment opportunities and bring new challenges. As a Perioperative Practical Nurse, you will gain specialized training in the pre, post, and intra-operative phase of the surgical process. You will be working under pressure in a rewarding and fast paced environment that requires good time management and critical thinking. Perioperative Practical Nurses are needed in operating rooms, private surgical suites, endoscopy suites, cataract suites as well as private surgical facilities across North America. They typically work an 8-hour shift that may have an on-call rotation component.