Background: Working in the perioperative context is complex and challenging due to the impact of ageing and innovations, making new ways of working and collaborating emerging. The continual evaluation in this environment underscores the need for adaptability to technological advancements, and requires substantial allocation of resources for training and education. Educational programs for nurse anesthetists and surgical nurses should prioritize candidates through their unique personality traits and their ability to adapt evolving technologies. Objective: To explore personality characteristics of perioperative healthcare professionals that are instrumental for sustainable employability in technologically advanced environment. Methods: Personality characteristics were identified with the Big Five Inventory, which consisted of 60 items answered on a five-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). 823 perioperative healthcare professionals (360 nurse anesthetists and 463 surgical nurses) and 827 participants of the normative Dutch population completed the online survey. Findings: Specific personality traits were found for nurse anesthetists and surgical nurses when compared to the normative Dutch population. Traits of nurse anesthetists differed significantly on all domains of the Big Five Inventory, with the largest differences found within the dimension negative emotionally (F=3532.39, df=2, p<0.001). The same applied to surgical nurses, in which the largest differences were also found within the dimension negative emotionally (F=4051.66, df=2, p<0.001). Conclusion: This study highlights the role of specific personality traits in maintaining employability among Dutch perioperative healthcare professionals within the rapidly evolving and technologically advanced landscape of healthcare. It contributes to an understanding of sustainable employability in technologically advanced environments and emphasizes the relationship between individual traits and professional excellence, being crucial educational strategies and overall improvement in healthcare.
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Aims: To investigate the impact of consecutive perioperative care transitions on in-hospital recovery of patients who had primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) over an 11-year period. Methods: This observational cohort study used electronic health record data from all patients undergoing preoperative screening for primary TKA at a Northern Netherlands hospital between 2009 and 2020. In this timeframe, three perioperative care transitions were divided into four periods: Baseline care (Joint Care, n = 171; May 2009 to August 2010), Function-tailored (n = 404; September 2010 to October 2013), Fast-track (n = 721; November 2013 to May 2018), and Prehabilitation (n = 601; June 2018 to December 2020). In-hospital recovery was measured using inpatient recovery of activities (IROA), length of stay (LOS), and discharge to preoperative living situation (PLS). Multivariable regression models were used to analyze the impact of each perioperative care transition on in-hospital recovery. Results: The four periods analyzed involved 1,853 patients (65.9% female (1,221/1,853); mean age 70.1 years (SD 9.0)). IROA improved significantly with each transition: Function-tailored (0.9 days; p < 0.001 (95% confidence interval (CI) -0.32 to -0.15)), Fast-track (0.6 days; p < 0.001 (95% CI -0.25 to -0.16)), and Prehabilitation (0.4 days; p < 0.001 (95% CI -0.18 to -0.10)). LOS decreased significantly in Function-tailored (1.1 days; p = 0.001 (95% CI -0.30 to -0.06)), Fast-track (0.6 days; p < 0.001 (95% CI -0.21 to -0.05)), and Prehabilitation (0.6 days; p < 0.001 (95%CI -0.27 to -0.11)). Discharge to PLS increased in Function-tailored (77%), Fast-track (91.6%), and Prehabilitation (92.6%). Post-hoc analysis indicated a significant increase after the transition to the Fast-track period (p < 0.001 (95% CI 3.19 to 8.00)). Conclusion: This study highlights the positive impact of different perioperative care procedures on in-hospital recovery of patients undergoing primary TKA. Assessing functional recovery, LOS, and discharge towards PLS consistently, provides hospitals with valuable insights into postoperative recovery. This can potentially aid planning and identifying areas for targeted improvements to optimize patient outcomes.
Frail elderly patients undergoing major surgery experience a decrease of physical capacity due to their hospital stay and surgery. This affects the risk of postoperative complications and their performance of activities, independence and participation.The Better in, Better out™ (BiBo™) strategy was developed to reduce these risks through the optimization and professionalization of perioperative hospital care in a physically activating context
