From Neonatal ICU to Operating Room Leadership: An Exclusive Q&A with Melanie Perry on the Evolution of Patient Care and OR Best Practices

In the dynamic world of nursing, few professionals have journeyed across its varied landscapes as extensively as Melanie Perry . With experiences ranging from the delicate and urgent environment of the Neonatal ICU to the precise and hectic settings of the Operating Room, Melanie has seamlessly melded her diverse experiences into a holistic approach to patient care. Since her pivot to the OR in 2011, she has not only embraced its challenges but has also emerged as a driving force for patient safety and best practices. Today, we delve deep into her treasure trove of insights, learning about the foundations she's built upon and the future she envisions for OR nursing. Join us as Melanie Perry shares her story, wisdom, and the profound impact of looking beyond the procedure to see the human at the heart of it all.

You’ve worked across multiple specialties from Neonatal ICU to the OR. How do these varied experiences inform your approach to patient care in the operating room where your focus has been since 2011??

From 2002 to 2011 I worked in many different nursing specialties and each experience not only taught me something unique, but each experience laid a foundation I could then build upon and draw from throughout my nursing career.? In the ICU, I learned about caring for some of our most vulnerable, critical patients, and how to consider the family, not just the patient during their care. In Med-Surge, I learned about taking care of patients with many different health conditions, multitasking to effectively manage my patient assignments, and how to professionally interact with many different providers and services within the hospital. In Pain Management I learned to appreciate the subtleties of pain, and how unmanaged pain can have significant impacts on a patient’s health and wellbeing.

When I came to the Operating Room in 2011, I brought all these experiences with me, and they have helped me to see our patients, and the care that we give, in a very holistic light. It’s very easy in healthcare to reduce our patients down to a diagnosis or procedure, but our patients aren’t just “the knee replacement in OR 7” or “the appendectomy in OR 10.” They are human beings who have anxieties and fears, families and loved ones, and hopes for the future and for healing. It’s easy to forget that in the fast-paced, task-oriented environment of the Operating Room.?

What advice would you give to new nurses entering the OR environment, given its fast-paced nature??

The best advice that I can give is: Take it one day at a time.

The OR is unique and incredibly overwhelming. We have thousands upon thousands of different instruments, some of which even have more than one name. There are multiple surgical specialties all with their own procedures and preferences.

There’s a multitude of people! And somehow, you’re supposed to remember everyone’s name and what their role is. It’s overwhelming. But don’t let it scare you. You won’t master the OR in a day or even a month. Accept that and take it one day at a time.

It will be at least a year before you really feel comfortable, and you’ll continue to learn something new every day of your career. But learning is good! The more you learn, the better able you are to deliver safe and effective patient care.?

As a passionate advocate for patient safety and best practices, where do you see the future of OR nursing heading, especially in terms of education and training??

OR nursing is a very specialized. Most nursing students do not get exposed to OR nursing while they are in nursing school, which leaves many new nurses unaware of the opportunities that exist in the Operating Room. However, there has been a push recently for more OR exposure in nursing schools, leading to the creation of Perioperative Nursing Electives for interested nursing students. This is a great way to expose nursing students to the OR, and to help the OR be able to recruit new grads. I see this trend growing, and more nursing schools developing these programs thanks to OR nurses who are advocating for these electives.?

I also see technological growth and the implementation of new tech, like AI-based education and virtual reality, changing the way that we educate our employees to help them stay up-to-date on the ever-changing landscape of surgical care.?

What challenges and opportunities do you see when collaborating with Orthopedic vendors, especially ensuring the right equipment is available??

As an Orthopedic Team Leader, last minute add-ons or procedure changes always made it difficult to make sure that we had the right instruments and equipment. We would also struggle when we had limited equipment, but multiple surgeons who needed it for their cases. It could make managing the schedule very stressful! However, I built strong relationships with most of our Orthopedic vendors, and open lines of communication were the key to success. I was diligent in informing our vendors of schedule changes so that they could bring in new instruments if needed or help us find loaner equipment if there was a schedule conflict.

Our Orthopedic vendors were also very helpful in communicating with me when they were told about a late add-on (had I heard about it also?), when they were having difficulty getting instruments or equipment to our facility, or if there was any other issue that I needed to be aware of.?

Can you tell us more about the Operating Room Word Puzzle series and what inspired you to develop it?

This has been such a fun series to work on! I’m actually planning a Volume 3 release for early 2024.?

In all honesty, the idea wasn’t mine. I helped found First Case Media, LLC, and our sister company, Beyond Clean, was the first to release a puzzle book that was written for the Sterile Processing audience. We decided that we needed to release one for the OR audience as well, and that’s how Volume 1 came into being. It was so well received that I approached our editor about releasing a 2nd volume so that we could offer more books. She and I worked together, and Volume 2 was released in the fall of 2022.

These books are a simple but fun way to offer OR-Specific education that focuses on topics that are relevant to anyone who works in the Operating Room.

Check out the Operating Room Word Puzzles Series on Amazon: