Different but Similar

In the United States, we continue to argue the merits of making a bachelor’s degree the requirement for entry into the practice of nursing. We lament the fact that there are few schools offering a perioperative nursing elective course. We fear a future with an ever-growing elderly population and a shrinking pool of nurses. Although we have made strides in salaries for nurses, we often believe pay does not reflect the responsibilities nurses have to manage, including using increasingly high-tech equipment and creating and maintaining a safe patient environment. We have successfully waged a very long battle for recognition in the legislative arena to achieve the mandate in 20 states that the person in the circulator role during surgery must be an RN. Nurses in other parts of the world have many of the same concerns that we have in the United States. They, too, are engaged in efforts to improve working conditions, enhance patient safety, and develop and implement educational programs specific to perioperative nursing.