Unit rationale, description and aim
Patients undergoing surgical interventions experience unique and often complex clinical needs that require perioperative nurses to apply advanced bioscience knowledge, technical skill, and evidence-based practice across the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases of care. Perioperative nurses play a crucial role in ensuring patient safety, managing physiological instability, coordinating multidisciplinary care, and providing holistic support to patients and families as they navigate the physical, psychosocial, and cultural impacts of surgery.
This unit develops advanced knowledge and skills for nurses working in perioperative settings. Students develop knowledge and skills across all perioperative phases, analysing the multifaceted role of the nurse in patient assessment, intraoperative care, and postoperative recovery. The unit explores the effects of surgical conditions and comorbidities on patients and families, emphasising evidence-based approaches to preventative, acute, and rehabilitative care. Through case analysis and clinical reasoning, students design, justify, and evaluate safe, holistic, and person-centred care strategies that respond to variations in patient status throughout the surgical journey.
The aim of this unit is to enhance specialised knowledge, critical analysis, and clinical reasoning in perioperative nursing, preparing students to deliver evidence-based, person-centred care that optimises patient outcomes, ensures safety, and maintains high-quality standards across perioperative settings.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Critically apply advanced knowledge of bioscience ...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically reflect on the role and scope of the sp...
Learning Outcome 02
Analyse the physical, psychosocial, and cultural i...
Learning Outcome 03
Analyse evidence-based approaches to preventative,...
Learning Outcome 04
Apply advanced clinical reasoning to design, justi...
Learning Outcome 05
Content
Topics will include:
- Professional Identity in Advanced Perioperative Nursing Practice
- Definition and clinical relevance of professional identity
- Role and scope of the perioperative nurse
- Clinical decision making and accountability
- Overview of perioperative nursing roles in advanced practice
- ACORN and ANZCA guidelines
- Patient safety principles and surgical environment orientation
- Introduction of approaches to care and their relevance in perioperative practice
- Curative approach
- Rehabilitative approach
- Palliative approach
- Preventive approach
- Preoperative care and management
- Preoperative assessment & safety checklist
- Anesthetic considerations
- Invasive versus non-invasive ventilation
- Neural blocks
- Peripheral nerve blocks
- Neuraxial blocks
- Common comorbidities in surgical patients
- Bioscience concepts underlying complex health problems
- Intraoperative care and management
- Anaesthesia – physiology, pharmacology, airway management and oxygenation, manage different patient cohorts
- Patient positioning and pressure injuries
- Physiological changes in the intraoperative period
- homeostasis
- thermoregulation
- neurovascular changes
- integumentary considerations
- fluid and electrolyte considerations
- Standard precautions in the operating room
- Complications in the operating room
- Anaesthesia and Pharmacology
- Principles of anaesthesia in perioperative care
- Types and sedation techniques
- Indications and contraindications
- Physiological effects and patient monitoring requirements
- Advanced pharmacology for surgical patients
- Induction agents
- Muscle relaxants and reversal agents
- Analgesics and adjunct medications
- Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics
- Drug metabolism and elimination in surgical patients
- Considerations for patients with renal/hepatic impairment
- Monitoring and managing anaesthetic complications
- Postoperative care and management
- Immediate postoperative assessment (ABCDE)
- Pain management in the recovery room
- Multimodal analgesia
- Epidural/Nerve block
- Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA)
- Wound and drain care in the recovery room.
- The role of the recovery nurse in patient education
- Early recognition and management of complications
- Common perioperative procedures overview, considerations and evidence-based management
- Cardiothoracic Surgery
- Cardiac surgery (coronary artery bypass, valve repair)
- Thoracic surgery (lung resection, esophagectomy)
- Gastrointestinal Surgery
- Hernia repair: indications, techniques, complications.
- Bariatric surgery: patient selection, perioperative risks
- Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery
- Joint replacement, fracture fixation, perioperative blood loss management.
- Neurosurgery
- Craniotomy, spinal surgery, ICP monitoring
- Genitourinary Surgery
- Prostatectomy, nephrectomy, urological endoscopic procedures
- Breast, Thyroid, and Parathyroid Surgery
- Endocrine implications, nerve injury prevention
- Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
- Skin grafts, flap procedures, cosmetic vs reconstructive considerations.
- Gynaecological and Obstetric Surgery
- Hysterectomy, caesarean section, laparoscopic procedures.
- Special considerations for pregnancy and fertility preservation.
- Otorhinolaryngologic Surgery
- Tonsillectomy, sinus surgery, airway management implications.
- Ophthalmic Surgery
- Cataract and retinal procedures
- Positioning and anaesthetic considerations
Assessment strategy and rationale
To pass the unit, students must demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome and obtain a minimum mark of 50% in graded units.
The assessment strategy is designed to scaffold learning and progressively build students’ advanced knowledge and application of clinical and evidence-based practice with a focus on the care of complex perioperative patients and their families.
Through the undertaking of two assessment tasks, students will critically reflect their role as a specialist perioperative nurse in improving patient outcomes, apply advanced bioscientific knowledge of complex health conditions and demonstrate clinical reasoning while applying holistic care principle. The second assessment task requires students to independently produce original work that integrates advanced bioscience knowledge, evidence-based practice, and patient-centred clinical decision-making. Both assessment tasks promote analytical thinking, reflection, and evaluation of people-centred care.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Digital Presentation The stud...
Assessment Task 1: Digital Presentation
The student will critically reflect on their role as a specialist perioperative nurse in improving patient outcomes in perioperative healthcare settings, demonstrating the ability to critically apply advanced bioscience knowledge and evaluate evidence-based practice to inform clinical decision-making.
30%
Assessment Task 2: Written Assignment Enables st...
Assessment Task 2: Written Assignment
Enables students to critically apply advanced knowledge and clinical reasoning through analysis and evaluation of the evidence-based, people-centred care provided to a complex perioperative case study patient with a variation in health status, with critical reflection on their role as a specialist perioperative nurse.
70%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit equips specialist perioperative nurses with advanced bioscience knowledge, clinical reasoning, and evidence-based skills to deliver person-centred care in complex perioperative settings. By examining the evolving role of the specialist nurse and the physical, psychosocial, and cultural impacts of illness and surgery, students develop the capacity to make informed clinical decisions, optimise patient outcomes, and contribute effectively to interdisciplinary teams.
Delivered fully online, the unit uses an active and collaborative learning approach to support critical analysis and evaluation of evidence-based strategies for caring for complex perioperative patients. Learning activities include guided readings, reflective exercises, and structured online discussions that promote critical thinking and peer engagement. Students collaborate in a supportive virtual environment, with access to e-learning resources and electronic readings to extend and consolidate knowledge.
Synchronous webinar sessions provide opportunities for real-time discussion, clarification of concepts, and academic support. The flexible delivery mode enables students to balance study with professional commitments while maintaining meaningful engagement. Overall, the unit fosters integration of theory and practice, preparing nurses to deliver safe, evidence-informed, and high-quality care in specialist perioperative nursing environments.