Name
University of Phoenix
NUR 531 Influencing the Future of Nursing and Health Care
Prof. Name
Date
A systematic evaluation plan is essential for preparing registered nurses to provide safe, evidence-based care in perioperative settings. At Riverside Medical Center, the PeriOp 101: A Core Curriculum provides a structured pathway that combines standardized education, simulation, skills training, supervised clinical practice, and competency assessment. Regular evaluation of learners, instructors, clinical experiences, and program outcomes helps ensure that nurses develop the knowledge, technical skills, clinical judgment, and professional behaviors needed for high-quality surgical care.
Perioperative nursing requires nurses to work effectively in complex, fast-paced environments where patient safety, communication, infection prevention, clinical judgment, and teamwork are critical. A systematic evaluation process allows Riverside Medical Center to identify learning gaps, measure competency, evaluate teaching effectiveness, and continuously improve the educational program.
Riverside Medical Center developed the PeriOp 101: A Core Curriculum to support newly licensed registered nurses and experienced nurses transitioning into perioperative practice. A structured transition-to-practice approach can help nurses bridge the gap between academic preparation and the specialized knowledge required in surgical environments.
The curriculum uses multiple educational strategies rather than relying exclusively on classroom instruction. This blended approach gives learners opportunities to acquire theoretical knowledge, practice technical skills, apply clinical reasoning, and demonstrate competency in realistic patient-care situations.
Core components of the program include:
AORN PeriOp 101 standardized education
Evidence-based nursing instruction
Skills laboratory experiences
Simulation-based learning
Supervised clinical practice
Competency validation
Preceptor and faculty evaluation
Continuous program assessment
Combining these approaches creates a more comprehensive learning experience and allows educators to evaluate whether participants can transfer knowledge from educational activities into actual perioperative practice.
A perioperative education program should support both professional nursing standards and the healthcare organization’s goals. Riverside Medical Center’s curriculum emphasizes safety, quality, compassion, accountability, and patient-centered care.
The program prepares nurses to apply these principles while caring for patients before, during, and after surgical procedures. Learners are expected to develop clinical competence while also strengthening communication, teamwork, ethical practice, and professional responsibility.
The curriculum emphasizes:
Clinical competence and sound clinical judgment
Patient-centered perioperative care
Evidence-based decision-making
Interprofessional communication
Professional accountability
Patient safety
Quality improvement
This alignment helps connect educational objectives with the practical responsibilities of perioperative nurses.
A strong evaluation plan should use recognized nursing education and quality frameworks to establish measurable expectations. Riverside Medical Center can use frameworks such as QSEN competencies and relevant nursing education quality standards to guide curriculum development and outcome assessment.
The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) emphasizes quality, accountability, assessment, and continuous improvement within nursing education. Although CCNE accreditation applies to eligible nursing education programs rather than serving as a direct accreditation mechanism for every hospital-based residency, its quality principles can inform the development of structured educational evaluation processes.
Applying outcome-focused principles encourages educators to establish measurable objectives, monitor learner achievement, review program effectiveness, and use assessment findings to improve instruction.
Important evaluation areas include:
Learner achievement
Educational outcomes
Assessment processes
Program accountability
Continuous improvement
The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) framework identifies six competencies that are particularly relevant to perioperative practice: patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics.
Perioperative education can incorporate these competencies into classroom activities, simulation exercises, clinical evaluations, and competency validation.
For example, learners may demonstrate patient-centered care through effective communication and informed participation in care, while safety competencies can be evaluated through infection prevention, surgical safety practices, medication safety, and appropriate identification of risks.
The central purpose of PeriOp 101 is to prepare registered nurses to deliver safe and competent care throughout the perioperative continuum.
By completing the program, participants should be able to apply perioperative nursing principles, use evidence-based practices, communicate effectively with members of the surgical team, and demonstrate professional accountability.
Expected learning outcomes include the ability to:
Provide safe perioperative nursing care.
Apply current evidence to clinical decision-making.
Communicate effectively with patients and interdisciplinary teams.
Demonstrate appropriate clinical judgment.
Use healthcare technology and information systems appropriately.
Participate in quality-improvement activities.
Apply patient-safety principles throughout the surgical process.
Demonstrate required clinical competencies.
These outcomes should be measured using multiple assessment methods so that program completion reflects more than performance on a written examination.
A systematic evaluation plan examines learner performance, teaching effectiveness, clinical experiences, curriculum quality, and overall program outcomes. Using several forms of assessment provides a more complete picture of whether the program is achieving its educational objectives.
The evaluation process can be divided into formative evaluation and summative evaluation.
Formative assessment occurs throughout the educational process. Its primary purpose is to identify learning needs and provide feedback before the learner reaches the final stage of the program.
Faculty and preceptors can use direct observation, skills assessments, clinical discussions, self-reflection, and coaching to identify areas that require additional instruction or practice.
Examples include:
Faculty observations
Student self-assessments
Skills laboratory assessments
Clinical performance reviews
Preceptor feedback
Individual coaching
Group discussions
Course evaluation surveys
For example, if a learner demonstrates difficulty maintaining sterile technique during a skills assessment, the educator can provide targeted instruction and additional practice before the learner progresses to independent clinical performance.
Summative assessment occurs at the end of a course, module, or program and determines whether learners have achieved the required outcomes.
Potential summative measures include:
Module examinations
Comprehensive PeriOp 101 examinations
Clinical competency validation
Preceptor evaluations
Final clinical assessments
Program outcome data
If Riverside Medical Center establishes an 84% minimum passing score for its final examination, that threshold should be clearly communicated to participants and consistently applied. Written examination performance should also be considered alongside demonstrated clinical competency because perioperative nursing requires the integration of knowledge, technical skills, communication, and clinical judgment.
The quality of an educational program depends partly on the effectiveness of its educators. Faculty and clinical instructors should therefore participate in an ongoing evaluation process.
Teaching effectiveness can be examined through learner feedback, faculty reflection, peer review, preceptor input, and review of student performance.
Useful evaluation methods include:
Student evaluations
Faculty self-reflection
Peer feedback
Clinical preceptor evaluations
Individual student conferences
Review of learner outcomes
Group learning feedback
The results can be used to identify opportunities for faculty development and curriculum improvement. For instance, consistently low learner performance in a particular topic may indicate a need to revise instructional materials, increase simulation time, or modify the teaching strategy.
Clinical practice is a critical component of perioperative nurse education because nurses must demonstrate that they can apply classroom knowledge in real patient-care environments.
Experienced perioperative nurses can serve as clinical preceptors and provide direct supervision, coaching, and feedback. Their observations provide valuable information about whether learners can safely perform required tasks and respond appropriately to clinical situations.
Clinical competency can be evaluated through:
Direct observation
Skills competency checklists
Clinical documentation
Patient-safety practices
Professional behavior
Communication
Clinical judgment
Decision-making
Teamwork and collaboration
Preceptors should receive appropriate orientation to the curriculum and evaluation criteria. Consistent evaluation standards help reduce variation among clinical instructors and make learner assessments more reliable.
Online education is another important component of a blended perioperative nursing curriculum. Online modules should be evaluated to determine whether the content remains accurate, accessible, engaging, and relevant to clinical practice.
Program leaders can review:
Online examination results
Learner satisfaction
Course completion rates
Faculty review of educational content
Preceptor feedback
Alignment between online learning and clinical practice
When online content does not adequately prepare learners for clinical activities, educators can revise the material, add case-based activities, incorporate simulation, or provide additional clinical instruction.
Regular review is especially important because perioperative practices, technology, evidence, and patient-safety recommendations can change over time.
Evaluation should not end when learners complete the program. The information collected throughout the curriculum should be analyzed and used to improve future program delivery.
A continuous quality-improvement cycle can include:
Establish measurable educational objectives.
Collect learner and program data.
Analyze assessment results.
Identify strengths and learning gaps.
Implement curriculum or instructional changes.
Reassess outcomes after the changes.
Continue the improvement cycle.
This approach transforms evaluation from a simple pass-or-fail process into an ongoing quality-improvement strategy.
A structured evaluation framework can benefit learners, educators, healthcare organizations, and patients. When assessment methods are clearly connected to program objectives, educators can make evidence-informed decisions about curriculum effectiveness.
Potential benefits include improved clinical competency, stronger learner confidence, greater consistency in perioperative practice, and increased attention to patient safety.
A systematic evaluation process can also help organizations:
Identify learning gaps earlier.
Strengthen clinical competency.
Improve teaching effectiveness.
Support evidence-based practice.
Reinforce patient-safety principles.
Monitor educational outcomes.
Identify opportunities for curriculum revision.
Support quality-improvement activities.
Promote professional development.
The PeriOp 101: A Core Curriculum provides a structured approach to preparing registered nurses for specialized perioperative practice. Its combination of standardized education, skills training, simulation, supervised clinical practice, and competency assessment allows learners to develop both theoretical knowledge and practical abilities.
A systematic evaluation plan strengthens this educational model by measuring learner achievement, clinical performance, teaching effectiveness, and program outcomes. By using formative and summative assessment methods and applying the results to continuous improvement, Riverside Medical Center can maintain an educational program that responds to the needs of perioperative nurses and the patients they serve.
The most effective evaluation approach is therefore not a single examination or clinical checklist. Instead, it is a continuous process that connects educational objectives, learner assessment, clinical competency, faculty performance, and program improvement.
PeriOp 101 is an AORN educational program designed to support nurses entering perioperative practice. AORN describes PeriOp 101 as a comprehensive perioperative education solution that includes didactic education and clinical learning components.
Systematic evaluation determines whether learners are achieving required competencies and whether the educational program is meeting its objectives. It also helps educators identify learning gaps, improve teaching strategies, and make evidence-informed curriculum changes.
Perioperative education emphasizes clinical knowledge, patient safety, communication, teamwork, evidence-based practice, and competency development. These elements help prepare nurses to recognize risks and apply safe practices throughout the perioperative process.
Perioperative nurses need clinical knowledge, technical skills, clinical judgment, communication, teamwork, patient-safety awareness, evidence-based practice skills, informatics knowledge, and professional accountability.
Evaluation can include online examinations, skills laboratory assessments, simulation, direct clinical observation, competency checklists, preceptor feedback, faculty evaluations, and final examinations.
Formative evaluation occurs during learning and provides feedback that can help improve performance. Summative evaluation occurs after a learning period and determines whether the learner has achieved the required outcomes.
Program leaders can collect assessment data, review learner and faculty feedback, analyze clinical outcomes, identify gaps, implement changes, and reassess results. This creates a continuous quality-improvement cycle.
PeriOp 101 provides structured education for nurses entering or transitioning into perioperative practice.
A systematic evaluation plan should assess knowledge, technical skills, clinical judgment, professional behaviors, teaching effectiveness, and program outcomes.
Formative evaluation provides feedback during learning, while summative evaluation measures achievement at the end of an educational period.
QSEN competencies provide a useful framework for integrating patient-centered care, teamwork, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics.
Clinical preceptors play an important role in evaluating how effectively nurses apply classroom knowledge in actual perioperative settings.
Continuous analysis of evaluation results allows educators to identify gaps and improve curriculum quality over time.
Association of periOperative Registered Nurses. (n.d.). PeriOp 101 education solutions. https://www.aorn.org/education/periop-101
Billings, D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2016). Teaching in nursing: A guide for faculty (5th ed.). Elsevier. https://www.elsevier.com/books/teaching-in-nursing/billings/978-0-323-29054-8
Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. (n.d.). Accreditation. https://www.aacnnursing.org/ccne-accreditation
Lewallen, L. P. (2015). Practical strategies for nursing education program evaluation. Journal of Professional Nursing, 31(2), 133–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2014.07.008
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2011). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/12956
Quality and Safety Education for Nurses. (n.d.). QSEN competencies. https://qsen.org/competencies/
