Perioperative education--perspective from the think tank.

The AORN Foundation and the National League for Nursing (NLN) cosponsored a think tank to address concerns about the shortage of perioperative nurses and the lack of perioperative experiences in many nursing programs. Think tank participants identified traditional and existing paradigms in nursing education and envisioned a new self-directed learning model for nursing school curricula, in which students would be held accountable for their own learning and faculty members would serve as learning facilitators. AORN and NLN members agreed to collaborate to spread the message that the perioperative arena is an excellent place for nursing students to develop the knowledge, skills, and values they will need to practice effectively in today's complex health care institutions.