Perioperative Nurse Week
EDITOR:This is a great time for honoring perioperative nurses everywhere. This year the theme for Perioperative Nurse Week is Reaching the Peak of Perioperative Practice: Safety, Quality, Collaboration. The Upper Peninsula Chapter 2308 of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses would like to share the following information with our local communities. This group of nurses has active participants from the following community hospitals: Hancock, Marquette, Ishpeming, Iron River, Iron Mountain, and Ironwood.
In 1979, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) House of Delegates approved a resolution that AORN designate a day each year to promote consumer education and enhance public knowledge regarding the role of the perioperative nurse. November 14, 1979 was designated as OR Nurse Day.
In 1990, OR Nurse Day became a week-long celebration which focused on educating the public about perioperative nurses' role. OR Nurse Day is still celebrated on November 14 and has been incorporated into the week.
In 2000, OR Nurse Week was changed to Perioperative Nurse Week to reflect the broad spectrum of patient care services provided to surgical patients by perioperative nurses.
Perioperative nursing is a specialized area of nursing practice. As a fundamental member of the surgical team, the perioperative registered nurse works in collaboration with other health care professionals which may include the surgeon, anesthesia provider, surgical assistant, and other assistive personnel. The perioperative registered nurse provides nursing care to surgical patients preoperatively, intra operatively, and postoperatively and often in the role as circulating registered nurse,
Perioperative nursing requires a unique and highly-specialized skill set gained from specialized training and education. As a perioperative nurse, we are responsible for planning and directing all nursing care for patients about to undergo invasive surgical procedures, and we serve as the patient's advocate while they are powerless to make their own decisions.
If you or someone you love had a surgical procedure, the perioperative RN was directly responsible for you or your loved one's well-being throughout the operation. While all of the other well-qualified medical professionals are focused on their specific duty, the perioperative RN focuses on the patient. By employing their critical thinking, assessment, diagnosing, outcome identification, planning, and evaluation skills, the RN circulator directs the nursing care and coordinates activities of the surgical team for the benefit of the patient.
In 2009, perioperative nurses are deeply involved in health reform by promoting standardized data collection at the point of service to use for comparative effectiveness studies. This is a key mechanism to achieve patient safety and a perfect fit for our celebration of Perioperative Nurse Week: Reaching the Peak of Perioperative Practice: Safety, Quality, Collaboration.
Nancy Archambeau, RN,
President AORN
Chapter 2308
Hancock
