Thankful for Perioperative Nursing Success: Supporting OR Nurses & Surgical Teams

Perioperative Nurses Week is November 9 - 15, making it the perfect time to recognize the professionals who keep safe surgery moving, patient after patient, case after case. Perioperative nursing is both deeply rewarding and demanding, characterized by long hours, high acuity, constant coordination, and the pressure to ensure operations run smoothly and safely.

When you entered nursing, maybe you pictured yourself as the next Florence Nightingale, gracefully saving lives. Or maybe you imagined something closer to Nurse Betty, full of drama, excitement, and a few Hollywood-worthy plot twists. Fast forward to today, and instead of glamour, you are buried under back-to-back surgeries, short staffing, and yet another shift without a proper lunch break.

Perioperative nursing is rewarding, but let’s be honest — it’s also exhausting. The long hours, high-pressure environments, and the never-ending battle against burnout have made retention one of the biggest challenges in healthcare today.

So how do we keep talented nurses in the OR, feeling supported and thriving in their careers?  It starts with managing stress and ensuring operating room nurses have the tools to succeed.  By reducing friction, aligning teams, and giving them the tools, time, and trust to do what they do best.

Managing Stress in the OR

Stress management isn’t just about providing mental health resources, and it’s also about making the job easier. One of the main contributors to stress in the OR is case delays, which often create a ripple effect, leading to increased overtime, stressed-out teams, and patient anxiety. A recent study estimated surgical delays could add up to $7.8 million in additional costs over a 2-year period due to overtime and inefficiencies.

Operational improvements can make a big impact here. By optimizing workflows and streamlining sterile processing, delays can be reduced, efficiency improved, and your team given the breathing room it needs. This lightens the load for nurses and helps prevent burnout by ensuring that surgeries proceed without unnecessary disruptions.

This is where operational improvements come in.

How We Support Nurse Well-Being Through Operational Efficiency

At Surgical Solutions, we work directly with your OR and Sterile Processing teams to streamline workflows and ensure everything runs smoothly. Here’s how we help:

• Best Practices Implementation: We bring industry-leading standards to your sterile processing team, optimizing processes and ensuring compliance with the latest regulations. This reduces stress and maximizes efficiency across the OR.
• Procedural Support: We offer full integration with your surgical team, from pre-operative instrument preparation to post-operative sterilization. This support ensures your nurses can focus on patient care, not logistics.
• Instrument Repair & Scope Reprocessing: Managing equipment maintenance and repair helps prevent delays and keeps your staff from being bogged down by equipment issues. This support ensures everything is ready for use when your team needs it, reducing the strain on everyone.

By focusing on efficiency and support, we help reduce the stress of operating in such a fast-paced, high-pressure environment, allowing nurses to thrive in their roles.

The Role of Perioperative Nurses in Patient Advocacy

Beyond the technical skills and high-stakes responsibilities, perioperative nurses also advocate for their patients. From ensuring patient safety to defending patient rights, their role is integral to maintaining ethical standards of care.

To support nurses in their advocacy roles, hospital leadership should:

• Empower nurses to take on leadership roles in decision-making and policy development.
• Ensure they have access to the resources and support they need to report concerns and provide quality care.
• Foster an environment where nurses feel valued and heard, reinforcing their critical role in the surgical team.

Supporting Nurse Well-Being & Retention Starts Here

Hospitals need to invest in a multifaceted approach to improve retention and well-being. By reducing operational inefficiencies, providing career development opportunities, and supporting nurses in their advocacy roles, we can ensure perioperative nurses feel empowered, valued, and supported.

At Surgical Solutions, we believe that supporting perioperative nurses goes beyond recognition—it means action. From sharing best practices to building stronger OR–SPD collaboration, we’re proud to partner with perioperative professionals nationwide to make their work easier, safer, and more rewarding.

Celebrating Our Perioperative Nursing Leaders

As we celebrate Perioperative Nurses Week, we’re reminded that great partnerships start with great people. At Surgical Solutions, we’re especially proud of our own perioperative nursing leaders: Elizabeth (Betty) Casey, MSN RN CNOR CRCST CHL, CNO, and Robin Evans, BSN RN RNFA CRCST CHL, Clinical Nurse Specialist Manager, whose leadership, expertise, and compassion shape everything we do.

From mentoring teams and improving workflows to championing patient safety and collaboration, their impact reaches far beyond the OR. Their commitment to excellence truly embodies the spirit of perioperative nursing.

To all perioperative nurses across the country: thank you for your skill, compassion, and unwavering dedication to safe, high-quality surgical care.

Join Us: Free Webinar on OR & SPD, Two Sides of the Same Tray

We’re continuing the collaboration conversation in our OR Today webinar:
“Two Sides of the Same Tray: OR and SPD Working Better Together.”
Join us to explore practical ways to reduce delays and align teams.
 Register/learn more

OR Today Partnership

Our OR Today Corporate Profile highlights how we help hospitals optimize surgical services and build a culture of safety.
Read the profile!

This fall we connected with periop leaders across the Northeast and Southeast—swapping real-world tactics for staffing, scheduling, and SPD–OR alignment. We loved hearing your stories and sharing what’s working. Check out our recap on our blog. 

Celebrating Our Perioperative Nursing Leaders

As we celebrate Perioperative Nurses Week, we’re reminded that great partnerships start with great people. At Surgical Solutions, we’re especially proud of our own perioperative nursing leaders: Elizabeth (Betty) Casey, MSN RN CNOR CRCST CHL, CNO, and Robin Evans, BSN RN RNFA CRCST CHL, Clinical Nurse Specialist Manager, whose leadership, expertise, and compassion shape everything we do.

From mentoring teams and improving workflows to championing patient safety and collaboration, their impact reaches far beyond the OR. Betty and Robin, thank you for leading with excellence and embodying the very best of perioperative nursing.

A Shared Purpose

Perioperative Nurses Week reminds us: safe surgery is a team sport. We’re grateful for the skill, judgment, and heart perioperative nurses bring to every patient, every day—and we’re proud to stand beside you with the support and systems that make excellence sustainable.

To all perioperative nurses: thank you. Your advocacy and expertise change lives.

If your OR team is ready for extra support or looking to streamline workflows, we’re here to help.

Let’s talk about how Surgical Solutions can help your perioperative team operate more efficiently and focus on what matters most — patient care.