Invite a risk manager to the OR for perioperative nurse week

AORN Journal,  Nov, 2004  by Pat Hickey

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

How do you promote your worth as an individual, a valued employee at your hospital, and a member of your profession? Having gone through the election process for an AORN national office, I know how uncomfortable self-promotion can be. If I had not promoted my value as a leader, however, I might not have received any votes. As an employee, I have found that if I do not promote my skills, competencies, and worth to my hospital, I may not get a raise or promotion I deserve. Finally, as a member of my profession, I have found that if I do not promote the value of perioperative nursing, the public will not realize the importance of the perioperative nurse role. As members of AORN, we are all ambassadors of our organization and profession, and we should use this prestigious role to its full advantage.

PROMOTING PERIOPERATIVE NURSES AS PATIENT SAFETY ADVOCATES

National "Time Out" Day, June 23, 2004, presented a great opportunity to promote perioperative nursing. This campaign highlighted the role of perioperative nurses in ensuring correct site surgery and alerted the public to perioperative nurses' patient safety efforts and focus on improving the quality of patient care.

How can we use the momentum that started with National "Time Out" Day to continue to promote our worth as perioperative nurses? The optimist in me says that perioperative nurses are patient safety advocates on a daily basis, but my pessimistic side believes most perioperative nurses encounter a number of roadblocks in providing quality, safe patient care.

Many companies produce patient safety aids, such as specialty scalpels, markers, and patient lifts; however, the cost of these products can be prohibitive. One possible solution to this problem is to convey the importance of safety to the people who are in charge of budgets by seeking a collaborative relationship with the risk manager in your hospital.

COLLABORATE WITH A RISK MANAGER

Risk managers typically are the people who see the incident reports related to safety problems, and they are the people who drive safety efforts within a hospital. Risk managers are very aware of the financial losses related to patient and staff member injuries that hospitals experience on a daily basis, and it is they who recommend solutions to these problems.

I am sure that very few risk managers have ever set foot in an OR, even though they deal with surgical safety issues daily. By developing a collaborative relationship with your risk manager, you can gain a valuable ally who can help you with patient safety efforts.

FINDING OPPORTUNITIES

Strength in numbers was evident during National "Time Out" Day. The collaborative effort between AORN, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the American College of Surgeons, the American Hospital Association, the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, and the Association of Anesthesiologists, presented a wealth of opportunity for each of the participating organizations.

If you are looking for an opportunity to celebrate your worth as a patient safety advocate, you do not have to look far. Simply call your hospital risk manager and invite him or her into your OR during Perioperative Nurse Week. The value of this endeavor could be priceless.

PAT HICKEY RN, BSN, MS, CNOR RISK MANAGER PALMETTO HEALTH RICHLAND COLUMBIA, SC

Editor's note: National "Time Out" Day is a service mark of AORN, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group