CSRA Quarterly Newsletter Summer 2016
Presidents Message
Hello fellow AORN members,
Colleagues, I am excited as we begin our AORN meetings for the 2016-2017 year. Your Board and Officers have met to begin planning a great year of education and networking. During this meeting a motion was voted on to try quarterly meetings this year to encourage participation and engagement of our members.
This year our meeting schedule is as follows: August 27, 2016, November 12, 2016- Georgia Council Annual Seminar, January 7, 2017, and May 20, 2017. This year our current Officers and Board of Directors include:
Becky Holland- PresidentBernie Wortman- Treasurer
Wanda Lewis- President- ElectEdna Travis- Nominating Committee
Deborah Jones-Hicks- Vice PresidentEileen Locke- Board
Debra Marranci- SecretaryKiana Allen- Board
Brenda Summerau- Board
The CSRA AORN officers and Board of Directors would like to thank past President Brenda Summerau for her tireless work and dedication to our chapter
Thank you all for the great work you do and I look forward to seeing each of you at the first meeting.
Becky Holland, MSN, RN, CNOR
President, 2016-2017
CSRA AORN 1104
CSRA Quarterly Newsletter Summer 2016
CSRA Quarterly Newsletter Summer 2016
“Nurses Tackle Patient Safety”
Laser Safety, Perioperative Standards
CSRA AORN 1104 Chapter Meeting
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Doctors Hospital of Augusta
JM Still Center Ed Law Auditorium
3 CE’s pending
No cost for members
$10 for guest
0745 Registration
0800 Business Meeting
0845 Laser Safety (David Austell)
Breakfast Provided
Participants are encouraged to wear their favorite football team jersey or shirt
All participants are asked to register:
Save the date!
Georgia Council of perioperative nurses and CSRA AORN 1104
Fall Seminar
November 12, 2016
More to come!!
Martha Stratton, MSN, MHSA, RN, CNOR, NEA-BC
Helping Novice Nurses Thrive
Recently I’ve had a chance to reflect on all of the technological and patient care changes in the perioperative arena that I have seen during my career and to think about how much more difficult it is now for novice perioperative nurses to be successful. When I started in the OR in the late 1970s, we were just starting to use laparoscopes and arthroscopes; there were no video monitors, just direct-sight observation through the lens. There were no lasers, no robots, and no navigation systems. Even without all of the current technology, the OR was an intimidating and complicated path to tread for the inexperienced nurse. In today’s OR, a circulating nurse has to be part engineer, part electronics expert, part computer technician, and part mind reader, all while maintaining core nursing skills to care for the patient. Because perioperative nursing has all but disappeared from most nursing schools’ curricula, the basic OR atmosphere and processes are foreign to most novice nurses. Experienced perioperative nurses need to model professionalism and competence for novice nurses to emulate.
It is our professional and ethical responsibility to make sure that novice nurses gain the knowledge they need to provide safe, competent care and thrive in our very complex perioperative world. How do we integrate new nurses into the fabric of the OR? If we use Benner’s Novice to Expert theory,1 then we should combine skills (knowing how) with the theory behind it (knowing that). Instead of just showing the nurse how to place an electrosurgical unit grounding pad, we should explain the underlying principle for choosing an area of large muscle mass in close proximity to the surgical site for placement of the pad to ensure optimal patient safety. When we use warming techniques during surgery, we should discuss how normothermia contributes to healing and prevention of surgical site infections. It is up to us to introduce novice nurses to AORN’s Guidelines for Perioperative Practice and other perioperative resource materials so they understand the research and rationale that guides every aspect of perioperative practice. Important critical thinking skills must be honed to a new level in the perioperative environment because of the rapid pace and increasing acuity level of our patients. It is our professional and ethical responsibility to make sure that novice nurses gain the knowledge needed to provide safe, competent care.
As new nurses come into our ORs, we need to try to see things from their perspective, especially those of us who are “seasoned” nurses. This technology explosion came to us in bits and pieces, and we had time to adjust to it; for the novice perioperative nurse, it must all be absorbed at once.
If your institution is fortunate enough to have a formal perioperative program for new nurses, then step up and volunteer to teach a class or to be a preceptor. If not, then be an informal teacher and preceptor as new nurses enter your OR. The knowledge you have gained through years of experience, trial and error, and research is an invaluable resource; use it to its best purpose. Embrace novice nurses by telling them your stories, the funny ones, the embarrassing ones, and the sad ones. Encourage these nurses along the way as they learn. Give novice nurses these gifts: grant them time to learn; provide them with your expertise; and, most of all, impart to them your love of the profession. Leave a legacy of wisdom, humor, generosity of spirit, and passion for your calling.
References
- Benner P. From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley; 1984.
- Guidelines for Perioperative Practice. Denver, CO: AORN, Inc; 2016.