this issue April 2014 MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF AORN OF GREATER HOUSTON The PACEMAKER President s Message P.1 Volunteer Activities & Upcoming Events P.2 Demystifying Peer Review Flyer P.3 Spring Conference 2014 Flyer P.4 CNOR Exam Prep & Review Course Flyer P.5 Meet the Candidates of AORN GH 2014 P.6 President 2013-14 Darlene B. Murdock Vice President 2012-14 Georgeanne Green President Elect 2013-14 Nikki Washington Candidates, Cont. & Online Voting Instructions P.7 Member/Group Recognitions P.8 President s Message Greetings Periop Professionals, Past President 2012-13 Cheryl Marsh Board of Direc tors Carrie Claffey Debra Belgard Beverly Griffin Secreta ry Louly Williams Treasurer Judy Swanson Treasurer Elect Patricia Rodriguez Nominating Committee Grace Prow, Chair Naomi Brown Alma Ilustre Napoleon Player Webmaster David Robertson Committee Cha irs Joanne Oliver Kathy Mason Olivia Lyles Cheri Ackert-Burr Carmel Pound Marla Rodriguez Chad Flora Fred Perry Editor Michele Le This past week our designated delegates, many members, and I attended the AORN Surgical Conference & Expo 2014 in Chicago. Every year I go, I find the experience awe inspiring and this year was no different. This year I attended the conference as a national candidate. This was a professional opportunity of a lifetime for me. I was just completely elated and honored to be on the same stage with AORN national leaders. This humbling experience helped me to develop professionally. It humbled me to see first hand the passion, dedication, and vision of our AORN national leaders. I began to think of what more I can do to help advance the profession of perioperative nursing. I believe every perioperative nurse should attend AORN Surgical Conference & Expo, formally known as AORN Congress, at least once so that they can feel the passion, enthusiasm, and excitement for perioperative nursing on a national level. AORN is a member driven organization that has earned a reputation that includes adjectives such as 'well known' and 'highly respected' in healthcare. We, as members, are recognized as leaders in setting and/or influencing evidence based practice recommendations and surgical safety. If you did not know you were one of these leaders, let me assure you that you are as a member of AORN. I want to encourage you to use your opportunities and voices as an AORN member to make a difference in perioperative nursing by becoming more involved in AORN locally and nationally. You can do this by voting locally and nationally, attending local meetings, serving on local and national committees and task forces, and reviewing and commenting on position statements and/or recommended practices as they become available at www.aorn.org. If you need help or ideas on how to become more involved, please don't hesitate to contact me. You are AORN Greater Houston and it is my pleasure and honor to serve as your primary leader. Please let me know what I can do to make AORN Greater Houston, Chapter #4407, better for you. Darlene B. Murdock, BSN, BA, RN, CNOR AORN Greater Houston President 2013-14 Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. [Ralph Waldo Emerson]
Volunteer Opportunities & Upcoming Events PROJECT CURE The next date for Project Cure is Saturday, April 12, 2014. First time volunteers may register at www.projectcure.org. AORN Greater Houston Chapter #4407 Meeting This month s meeting will be on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at Houston Methodist Hospital in the Dunn Rio Grande Room (D1-059), on the first floor of the Dunn building, between Starbucks and Cafeteria at 6565 Fannin, Houston, TX 77030. Hot Topics Education Business 4:30p 5:00p 5:00p 6:00p 6:00p 6:30p Date Topic Speaker Happenings April 8 Ancient Remedies, New Technologies (1 CEU) Ann Avery, RN, CWCN, LNC, Derma Sciences May 13 TBA TBA June 10 Pressure Ulcers Jocelyn Goffney July No Meeting Enjoy Your Summer August No Meeting Enjoy Your Summer Sept 9 Health Care Legislation Joanna Oliver Candidates Speak Voting for 2014 Officers/Nurses Week Installation of 2014 Officers Beginning of New Fiscal Year Nursing students and surgical techs are welcomed! We ll have door prizes and a light supper. Oct 14 Annette Johnson TBA Nov 11 Biofilm Tricia Marshall, IMS Breast Cancer Awareness Perioperative Nurse Week Attend via Webinar. For access and information, please email darlenemurdock@hotmail.com. Demystifying Nursing Peer Review - 2014 Annual Update Wednesday, April 16, 2014 (7:00a 4:15p) Location: Memorial Hermann Prevention and Recovery Center, Alumni Center 2nd Floor 3043 Gessner Road, Houston, TX 77080 Cost: CEUs: $35 (Memorial Hermann Employees) $95 (Non Memorial Hermann Employees), $85/participant with a group of 10 or more 7.5 Nursing Contact Hours See attached flyer for additional information. Spring Conference 2014 Trauma: A Multidisciplinary Approach Saturday, April 26, 2014 (8:00a 12:00p) Location: Houston Methodist Hospital Dunn Rio Grande Room 6565 Fannin Street, Houston, TX 77030 Cost: $40 CEUs: 4 See attached flyer for additional information. CNOR Exam Prep and Review Course July 26 27, 2014 Location: Ben Taub General Hospital 4th Floor Conference Room Cost: $180 CEUs: 16.0 Contact Hours Provided See attached flyer for additional information. Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out. [Robert Collier]
DEMYSTIFYING NURSING PEER REVIEW 2014 ANNUAL UPDATE
CNOR EXAM PREP AND REVIEW COURSE
Meet the 2014 Candidates of AORN Greater Houston Chad Flora, BSN, RN, CNOR Georgeanne Green, RN, BSN, CNOR My name is Chad Flora and I am running for President-Elect for AORN of Greater Houston. If elected, I will represent our chapter in 2014-2015. Since graduating from nursing school in 1999, I have worked in the Texas Medical Center with many great nurses, surgical technologists, and physicians who have shaped my career. Along with my colleagues on my journey, AORN has also been a strong guiding force in developing my practice. We belong to such an amazing professional organization, arguably the strongest of all professional nursing specialty organizations. AORN provides nursing education, clinical practice resources, and evidence-based nursing standards and recommended practices to our 160,000+ members. It would be an honor and a privilege to serve you as President and to represent AORN of Greater Houston on the national level. Our organization, like many of the hospitals we are employed in, is currently faced with some rather daunting challenges. Meeting the needs of our members, financial issues, and recruitment and retention of members continue to be important areas that need attention of our leadership team. Our chapter s history is quite lengthy. Throughout our chapter s journey, there have been many great perioperative nurses who have met the challenge of leading our organization. I will accept that challenge by carrying the torch for the next leg of that journey. I am seeking the office of Chapter President Elect 2014-2015. I have 34 years of OR experience and currently work at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. I have been a CNOR for 17 years and have been a very active member of the AORN Greater Houston Chapter for many years. I have also been a Delegate to Congress for our Chapter for many years. Currently, I am the Chapter 2012-2014 Vice President. I recently assisted Darlene Murdock with the 2013 Congress Delegate Chair responsibilities for our Chapter. In addition, I was the Chapter Historian and assisted with the Membership Committee in 2011-2012. I promote certification as a Competency & Credentialing Institute (CCI) Champion. As AORN members, we are climbing the mountain towards Perioperative Excellence. It takes all of us working together to reach our goal. I will continue to do whatever I can to help make AORN Greater Houston the best chapter ever! AORN GREATER HOUSTON 2014 BALLOT PRESIDENT ELECT Chad Flora Georgeanne Green Jennifer Rose VICE PRESIDENT Thelma Vilela LaSandra Brown BOARD OF DIRECTORS Nancy Allen Fred Perry Thelma Vilela Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get up. I ask that you select me to serve as your Chapter President Elect 2014-2015. I have been an active member of AORN since 1980, serving in many different capacities such as Treasurer, Nominating Committee Chair, and four terms as a member of the Board of Directors. I have also served as delegate and delegate alternate numerous times for AORN Greater Houston. I was very instrumental in coordinating the Houston Triple Star Gala since its inception. In addition, I have presented a professional poster during AORN Congress 2012 in New Orleans entitled Mega Aorta and also in 2013 in San Diego entitled TAVR. I have been awarded the Perioperative Nursing Excellence Award for Volunteer Community Service in 2013 and the award for Excellence in Clinical Area in 2010. My passion is helping others both professionally and in my community. My goal is to help develop our young RNs into the ruling body of their association so that they can be involved in setting high standards for our practice in order to better serve our patient population. I ask for your support. [Chinese Proverb] NOMINATING COMMITTEE Suzanne Bailin Jemeca Branch Alesha Cannon Matthew Drew If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. [John Quincy Adams]
Meet the 2014 Candidates, Continued Suzanne Bailin, BSN, RN, CNOR Alesha Cannon I have been an O.R. nurse and a member of AORN for over sixteen years, and a CNOR for eleven years. I am the CCI Champion at Texas Children's Hospital, as well as our coordinator for CCI's new Take 2 Program. I have leadership experience, serving as chairperson for several hospital-wide and departmental committees during my career, including a committee to educate staff about current surgical standards of care. I'm also extremely comfortable participating in a team atmosphere, and believe it's important for each member to collaborate to achieve positive results. I am enthusiastic about being more involved in the Houston Chapter of AORN; therefore I am nominating myself for the Nominating, Leadership, and Development Committee. I feel that it is important for O.R. nurses to be included and engaged in decisions in the healthcare setting, which ultimately can affect growth and change for the perioperative nurse. AORN membership can assist us with this goal, and if elected to this committee, I would be honored to assist the committee in identifying our future perioperative leaders, encouraging them to become involved in the direction of trends in patient safety and quality nursing care. My name is Alesha Cannon, a candidate for the NLDC. I have been a Registered Nurse for four years and in the operating room since 2012. My professional goals for 2014 are to become more active in my professional organization, to successfully sit for the CNOR exam, and to continually provide high quality patient care. I am eager to become more involved within my local AORN chapter and to cultivate partnerships with other perioperative professionals. I look forward to attending the AORN Surgical Expo & Conference 2014 and bringing back exciting, innovative ideas and techniques. My most recent accomplishment is being amongst the first group of nurses to graduate from the Leadership Development Academy at Memorial Hermann Hospital-TMC. The values, skills, and knowledge gained from being an active participant in the Academy helped mold me into a progressive leader for the future. I am an active volunteer in the community and at Lakewood Church, KidsLife department. My goal for being on the Nominating & Leadership Development Committee is to assist with recruiting new members and be a resource for emerging leaders in the perioperative nursing practice. I would be honored to serve on the leadership team for the AORN Greater Houston chapter. AORN Greater Houston Voting will be open Monday, April 28 through May 12. Results will be announced during May 13th's meeting. Instructions for on-line voting are as follows: 1. Go to link http:// w11.zetaboards.com/ AORN_GREATER_HOU STON/index/ 2. AORN Membership must be valid and current 3. Use last name and AORN member # 4. Password is Ivoted1 until you change it 5. Log in and agree to terms; enter birthday to verify legal age To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. [Winston Churchill] 6. Ballot will appear; click on AORN GH election of officers
Website Links TCORN Texas Council of PeriOperative Registered Nurses www.tcorn.org Texas Nurses Association (TNA) www.texasnurses.org American Nurses Association www.nursingworld.org AORN OR Nurse Link www.ornurselink.aorn.org All recent AORN Greater Houston photos may be viewed on OR- NurseLink. AORN www.aorn.org Federation of Houston Professional Women www.fhpw.org We re on the web! Visit us at: www.aornhouston.com Member/Group Recognitions Last month, Certified Nurses Day was celebrated on March 19. During our chapter meeting, we celebrated all CNORs and CRNFAs and recognized some of our most tenured CNORs: Mary (Ginny) Baird 35 years (Very 1st CNOR Exam in 1979) Joanne Oliver Ann Prather Joan Persaud Etta Hodge Everlino Ermitanio Darlene Murdock 31 years 30 years 25 years 23 years 22 years 19 years We would also like to congratulate our newest CNORs: Dagmara Bienko, Cardinal Health Lenita Jackson, MD Anderson Christopher Mabe, Key Access Kayla Plummer, Houston Methodist Valerie Poulter, MD Anderson Health Awareness Month AORN Greater Houston was awarded the Silver Award for the large chapter excellence award during the AORN Surgical Conference & Expo 2014 in Chicago. Joanne Oliver, our legislative chair, was very instrumental in us receiving this award because her dedication and continued involvement in the legislative arena. This was Joanne's 50th year attending AORN Congress. Congratulations AORN Greater Houston #4407! April is Health Awareness Month with World Health Day celebrated on April 7. This year, the focus of World Health Day is on vector-borne diseases. The most common vector-borne disease is malaria and the fastest growing vector-borne disease is dengue. Vectors are usually small organisms that carry serious diseases. The most common vectors are mosquitoes, sand flies, and ticks. The evolutions of trade, environmental challenges, and urbanization have an impact on the transmission of vector-borne disease where incidences of these diseases are occurring in countries where they were previously unknown. http://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2014/event/en/. The AORN Mission The Association of perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) promotes safety and optimal outcomes for Why do we have awareness months? Awareness months help to do exactly what it states make the public, sometimes the world, aware of certain health issues or causes. Awareness event goals are to help improve and/or save lives. Many times during awareness months, free health screening and/or information is provided by many organizations. These free health screenings and information have the potential to make a significant impact on individuals lives. April is health awareness month which encompasses the overall general condition of the mind and body. Other awareness topics observed in April include Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Stress, Alcohol, Child Abuse, Women s Health, Sexual Assault, and Autism. patients undergoing operative and other invasive procedures by providing practice support and professional While loving and taking care of others, don t forget to love and take care of yourself too. [Unknown] development opportunities to the perioperative nurse. AORN will collaborate with professional and regulatory organizations, industry leaders, and other health care partners who support our mission. Innovate Collaborate Educate Grow Chapter #4407