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Article: The invisible nurse--behind the scenes in an Australian OR.(Clinical)
- Article from:
- AORN Journal
- Article date:
- April 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Perioperative nursing is facing a watershed. Currently, the average age of nurses, including perioperative nurses, is in the mid 40s. (1) Attracting a younger workforce during a period of widespread nursing shortages can be difficult. Furthermore, the value of nurses in the OR is being questioned. Perioperative nurses argue that as a specialty nursing group, they ensure safety, efficiency, and sterility in the OR, as well as provide an ethic of holistic and humanistic care in an otherwise highly technological area. One author describes the typical role assigned to nurses and suggests, that within this view, the nurse is
... client focused and possesses ...