Loyola Medicine Joins Nationwide Effort to Address Critical Shortages of Operating Room Nurses
August 15, 2021
Categories: Loyola Medicine
Loyola Medicine is part of an inaugural group of three health care systems joining an initiative by Chamberlain University and the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN)
Maywood, IL – August 13, 2021 – Loyola Medicine is joining with Chamberlain University and the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) as part of a national education and workforce solutions initiative to address critical shortages of operating room nurses suburban Chicago region.
Loyola Medicine is part of an inaugural group of three health care systems nationwide that are involved in expanding the initiative launched by Chamberlain University, which has the largest nursing school in the U.S., and the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), creators of evidence-based guidelines and education resources for perioperative practice.
Starting in early 2022, Chamberlain and AORN will launch a 16-week online training module on perioperative nursing that is designed to prepare students to acquire an educational badge in perioperative nursing. Loyola Medicine is collaborating with Chamberlain University to provide local participating students onsite opportunities to gain insight in a supervised perioperative setting.
“This initiative helps address a critical need for more nurses with a perioperative specialty and it aligns with our commitment to providing quality patient service in the Chicago area,” said Peggy Norton-Rosko, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, regional chief nursing officer for Loyola Medicine.
The initiative, designed to be aligned with perioperative industry-specific competencies defined by AORN, is a non-credit bearing program offered at no additional cost to students enrolled in Chamberlain’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program. The three health care organizations joining in the launch are Loyola Medicine; Ochsner Health; and Emory Healthcare.
The specialty badge program is designed to create a pipeline of perioperative nurses, also referred to as operating room nurses or surgical nurses, who work with surgical patients in the pre- and intra-operative process and through recovery in post-anesthesia care units. A 2021 research paper, “The State of the Perioperative Nursing Specialty Workforce,” outlines how academic partnerships with hospital facilities can address recruitment and retention challenges as well as be cost-effective. It can cost up to $120,000 to train and prepare a new perioperative nurse1, according to the research paper.
The need for perioperative nurses is expected to grow due to an increased volume of surgeries and a nationwide shortage of qualified nurses, according to AORN. Contributing to the shortage is that 20% of operating room nurses are expected to reach retirement age within the next five years, according to data collected by AORN2.
About Loyola Medicine
Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago's western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC), Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, MacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from nearly 2,000 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. LUMC is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. and Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, the John L. Keeley, MD, Emergency Department, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois's largest burn center, the Nancy W. Knowles Orthopaedic Institute, a certified comprehensive stroke center, transplant center and a children’s hospital. Having delivered compassionate care for over 50 years, Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org. You can also follow Loyola Medicine on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or X (formerly known as Twitter).
About Trinity Health
Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, faith-based health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 127,000 colleagues and more than 38,300 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 26 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 93 hospitals, 107 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 142 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. In fiscal year 2024, the Livonia, Michigan-based health system invested $1.3 billion in its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. For more information, visit us at www.trinity-health.org, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly known as Twitter).