Registered Practical Nursing - Perioperative Program (Postgraduate) (S425)

Program Description

Program Overview

George Brown College's Registered Practical Nursing – Perioperative (S425) program prepares RPNs with the foundational theoretical and technical skills needed to work within their scope of practice in a perioperative setting. This program includes a theory and clinical practicum component.

Full Description

George Brown College's Registered Practical Nursing – Perioperative postgraduate program is designed to teach RPNs the skills required to work as part of a perioperative team in a perioperative setting at a beginner level. The program utilizes current perioperative nursing research and strictly adheres to the Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada (ORNAC) Standards of Practice.

Students will learn operating room principles and practice considerations for all surgical specialties. This includes the study of relevant anatomy, surgical modalities, surgical instrumentation and the nursing process of caring for perioperative patients.

Each student will complete a clinical practicum in an operating room with an emphasis on the scrub nurse role in various surgical specialties. 

Course Delivery 

This course will be delivered through multimodal learning and will include: 

  • synchronous and asynchronous in-class and online theory 
  • lab skills and simulations 
  • a clinical practicum experience 

The program is organized in two phases. 

Phase I: Nursing Theory and Lab Skills

During the first five weeks of this program, student will learn: 

  • current ORNAC standards, principles and applications 
  • practice considerations for all surgical specialties 
  • surgical anatomy, modalities and instrumentation 
  • role of the scrub nurse 
  • clinical lab skills delivered in George Brown College's Operating Room Simulation Centre  

Phase II: Clinical Practicum  

Students will consolidate operating room theory and principles and will complete an eight-week (320-hour) clinical placement at a designated hospital facility. 

This clinical practicum includes: 

  • development of the scrub nurse role 
  • exposure to various surgical specialties (i.e. General Surgery, Urology, Gynecology, Plastic Surgery, ENT and Orthopedic Surgery) 
  • safe and professional practice 
  • introduction to the circulating role (hospital site dependent) 

While in the clinical setting, students will participate in online discussions through live video conferences and complete clinical assignments as per the course syllabus. 

Clinical experiences are coordinated by the program co-ordinator at hospitals in and outside of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), or at the hospital where the student currently works. Sponsored (hired) students will complete their clinical placements at the hospital where they are employed. 

PLEASE NOTE: Public Health continues to recommend that people working with vulnerable communities be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Clinical agency partners continue to require students to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to be approved to complete clinical placements within their facilities. Agencies have the right to decline the placement of students who are not fully vaccinated, and students who are not vaccinated are at risk of not being able to complete their clinical placement course requirements. 

Career & Postgraduate Study Opportunities

Career Options

Graduates of the Registered Practical Nursing – Perioperative postgraduate program will have the necessary skills required to work as part of a perioperative team in a perioperative setting at a beginner level.

This program offers RPNs an opportunity to specialize in perioperative nursing. In recent years, more acute care centres are adding RPN positions to their operating rooms' staffing skills mix. 

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