Abstract
Introduction: The orientation period (adaptation process) allows the newly graduated operating room nurses (perioperative nurses) to adapt in their new environment. Its goal is to prepare new nurses well for the conditions in which they will be working.
Therefore, it is beneficial to plan the orientation period so that the nurses can follow it and so it does not contribute to their early exit from the profession. Objective: The goal of the literature review was to find research articles describing the orientation period in operating room nurses; and consequently, to analyze the used tools regarding their reliability.
Methods: We searched for the relevant documents in the following electronic databases: Ebsco, PubMed and Medline; the search timeframe was set from 1998 until 2019. We used the following key words: adaptation process, nursing, graduate nurse, perioperative nurse, program for adaptation process, mentoring.
We also searched for available legal documents and books using Google search engine. Results: We found 297 articles and documents.
Based on the selected key words, we included 10 articles into our analysis, these were more universal, did not focus on perioperative nurses, but at graduate nurses in general. We also used the European and American curricula documents for perioperative nurses.
High reliability is described in the article Mentoring the new graduate perioperative nurse: a valuable retention strategy. Conclusion: The results of the analyzed studies support the importance of implementing relevant adaptation processes and plans for operating room nurses.
Inevitable condition is a detailed description of mentor's role at each workplace. This topic needs to be researched further in the Czech environment.