Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
6-16-2025
First Advisor
Lisa Drake
Second Advisor
Brittany Marshall
Abstract
Perioperative nursing is experiencing greater shortages than any other specialty and has been largely removed from undergraduate education. This DNP quality improvement project aimed to impact the recruitment of perioperative nurses through undergraduate nursing clinical exposure and experience. The project addressed the lack of clinical nursing student opportunities in the perioperative department at the partner site to increase interest in perioperative nursing and recruit core staff nurses from the pool of new graduates. Kotter’s Eight-Step Change Model and the Social Career Cognitive Theory framed the project’s design and implementation for two cycles, between January and March 2024 and 2025. Using a mixed-methods design, the project evaluated the recruitment numbers of two nursing student cohorts and the project site’s perceptions of the effectiveness of the project as a recruitment tool. Results showed a statistically significant change between the proportion of new graduate applicants (40 percent) and new graduate hires (6.7 percent) post-intervention. Effectiveness ratings for the project showed an average rating of 4.67 out of 5 on all survey items, indicating that the perioperative department leaders found the project a successful recruitment tool. The project supports the inclusion of perioperative nursing in undergraduate clinical education. Future recommendations include continuing and expanding academic-practice collaborations that meet critical nursing shortage needs in specialty areas.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Boren, Traci, "Quality Improvement Project: Perioperative Recruitment Process Improvement through Nursing Student Clinical Experience" (2025). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 168.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/168
