Promoting and celebrating perioperative nursing

Abstract

Nancy J. Girard, RN November brings beautiful fall leaves, a chill in the air, Thanksgiving, and Perioperative Nurse Week. It is a month in which we give thanks for our families, our profession, and each other. This year, Perioperative Nurse Week is Nov 12 to 18, and the theme is “Perioperative Nurses: We're There for Safe Care.” Each year we do bigger and better things to celebrate this week. Results can be seen in posters at the AORN Congress, articles in the AORN Journal and AORN Connections, local chapter presentations, and individual facility activities. Suggestions for ways to get involved with this year's celebration of excellence are available at http://www.aorn.org/about/pnw/2006/getinvolved.asp. Perioperative nurses should be very proud to be a part of this exciting and challenging nursing specialty. As a whole, we have contributed to national and international standards of practice, elevated safety, and increased the quality of care for surgical patients. Now is the time to spread our wings and show others outside of the perioperative nursing arena just what we do to help provide optimal perioperative care. Ask yourself who throws the celebration party at your institution. Do nurses, medical professionals, or administrators host the celebration? If only the nurses are recognizing Perioperative Nurse Week, set a goal this coming year to make this specialty and its contributions more evident to others outside of nursing. For example, prepare a program to present to physicians about AORN's—and thus your—contributions to the outcomes of surgery and the role you play in the surgical team. Produce a PowerPoint presentation for top hospital administrators with information you want to highlight, and invite them to a short lunch presentation. Learning about the pertinent business and fiscal information that perioperative nurses have would be interesting to them. I am sure many of you have already participated in these types of activities and have other valuable suggestions to share. Then, set another goal to go one step further by educating the public. Invite a lay consumer to be a liaison to local chapter or board meetings. Set up a speaker list for your community on topics that would interest the public, and use that topic list to present at church meetings; international business organizations, such as the local Rotary Club; and civic organizations, such as the Women's Business Association. Ask members of the public what they would like to learn about. There are many topics that perioperative nurses could present, some of which could be over-the-counter or herbal medications that affect one's surgical episode, types of surgeries available for breast lumps, and how to care for your elderly parent after he or she has had surgery. I know many nurses who are already performing these types of services, and these perioperative leaders truly demonstrate excellence in nursing. Medical professionals are experts in demonstrating to the public who they are and what they do. Perioperative nurses can be as successful as physicians in working with the public. We need to continue our move out of the professional tunnel we are in and show everyone, not just ourselves, how good we really are. This month, pat yourself and other perioperative nurses on the back for a job well done, and celebrate your good work. You deserve it. Happy Perioperative Nurse Week!