October 2006 Volume 26, Issue 10 Austin AORN Newsletter Newsletter A Message from the President The Chapter year is getting off to a busy start. The bylaw/policy committee has submitted some proposed changes to the bylaws. Members have asked that they be able to vote electronically. We will be looking at ways this may be accomplished, to accommodate all members, especially those that work or on call the night of the chapter meeting. There is concern that if members never attend a meeting they will not know the people on the various ballots, and therefore not know who to vote for. Legislatively it is already proving to be a busy year. TNA will be working very hard on nursing issues this legislative session. These issues affect all of nursing. You will hear more on the issues throughout the year. (See legislative report in this newsletter). There will not be a Halloween bowling tournament this year; so you have to make other plans for Halloween. We have more members that meet the criteria to serve as delegates to the 2007 Congress than we have had in the past. This says a lot for commitment to the chapter. I urge all members to qualify to be able to serve the chapter as a delegate or alternate. Now is the time to volunteer for the golf tournament committee. There are new and exciting things already being planned. I look forward to seeing each of you at the October meeting. Loyce McCullough, RN, CNOR Chapter President
Austin AORN Awards First Nursing Scholarship Austin AORN Newsletter Ryann McMinn was awarded Austin AORN s First Nursing Scholarship at the September 2006 Chapter Meeting. Ryann is a student at UT School of Nursing. Congratulations Ryann! Loyce presents award recipient Ryann McMinn with the First Nursing Scholarship Instillation of New Officers New Officers pictured from left to right Louise Bloom (Nominating committee), Loyce McCullough (Chapter President 2006-2007), Shirley Rhoades (Board of Directors 2006-2008), Marilyn Saathoff (Secretary), Marty Brown (Treasurer) and Dody Volcik (President-Elect). Instillation of New officers took place at the September Chapter meeting.
Austin AORN Newsletter Drugs of the month Renee Khalar, CNOR For this newsletter the medication topic is Herbal Supplements we commonly see our patient s taking. The following table reviews the name, uses, and cautions or contraindications. Echinacea Herb Uses Cautions or Contraindications Evening Primrose Ginkgo Ginseng Kava-kava St. John s Wort Prevention & treatment of colds & flu, infections, allergies and skin disorders. Treat PMS Reduce Cholesterol Allergic or inflammatory conditions Treat dementia, vertigo, tinnitus, depression, peripheral vascular disease. Increase memory Enhance mental performance, Increase energy, decrease stress, improve immune function, Antioxidant Anxiolytic Analgesic Antidepressant Insomnia External Herbes simplex, minor burns & wounds. Internal Treats depression, nervousness & anxiety Not to be used with immunosuppressants or taken by patients whose immunity is compromised. Reduces platelet aggregation, may cause increase in bleeding. Caution in patients on anticoagulant therapy. May lower seizure threshold don t use with anticonvulsants or phenothiazines. Inhibit platelet activation factor, may increase bleeding. Hypoglycemic effect, caution in pt s taking digoxin, inhibit platelet aggregation & fibrinolysis may increase bleeding, don t use in pregnancy or acute infection. May potentiate MAO inhibitiors. Contraindicated in liver & kidney disease, hypertension, cardiac disease & hypokalemia. Can potentiate alcohol. Avoid in endogenous depression. May worsen Parkinson s. Prolong anesthesia effects. Photosensitivity, Avoid MOA inhibitors, Demerol.
Austin Area AORN Meeting Tuesday, October 3, 2006 Doctor/Nurse Communication 101 Presented by Dr. Margaret Thompson 1.2 CE s Objectives: Upon completion of this educational activity, the learner should be able to: 1. Discuss the evolution of doctor-nurse relations from paternalism to collegiality. 2. Identify the evidence linking miscommunication and lack of communication with medical errors. 3. Describe effect of power struggles on patient care. Dinner 5:45pm Business Meeting 6:00pm 6:45pm Education Offering 6:45pm - 7:45pm Location: North Austin Medical Center Auditorium Nursing contact hours have been applied for through the St. David's Institute for Learning, which is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the Texas Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. This activity meets Type I criteria for mandatory continuing education requirements toward relicensure as established by the Board of Nurse Examiner for the State of Texas." Members: Please post in your unit bulletin boards, scheduling boards, bathroom
Austin AORN Newsletter Speak Out Loyce McCullough, RN, CNOR I am not familiar with what is required for Magnet Status, since I left the hospital setting for the ambulatory setting prior to the inception of magnet, so I decided to learn more. I had read bits and pieces and have heard nurses discussing all the hoops they have to jump through to try and achieve magnet status. The first magnet status was bestowed on a healthcare organization in 1994, by the American Nurses Credentialing Organization. This is the group that accredits nursing continuing education programs. (Your CEs). Thus, making the status apply to nursing services. Throughout the country many hospitals are striving to achieve magnet status. Some consider this status to be the gold standard for excellence in nursing. For nursing this means that nurses throughout the hospital have a say in nursing practice. Often each specialty has a committee or council and these specialties make up the nursing council. In 2005 this center put forth 14 Forces of Magnetism, which became the major focus and a requirement to achieve magnet recognition. One of the articles I read took these 14 forces and identified what Florence Nightingale had done (under each force). The forces are: #1, Quality of Leadership; #2, Organizational Structure; #3, Management Style; #4, Personnel Policies and Programs; #5, Professional Models of Care;, #6, Quality of Care;, #7, Quality Improvement;, #8, Consultation and Resources;, #9, Autonomy; #10, Community and Health Care Organization; #11, Nurses as Teachers;, #12, Image of Nursing; #13, Interdisciplinary Relationships; #14, Professional Development. There is no requirement for nurse-patient ratios, but there is hope that ANCC will require hospitals to maintain a minimum ratio. As far as I can tell, it doesn t address the number of hours a nurse can work in a 7 day period, or other safety issues. It seems to me that for a hospital to be granted magnet status, Magnet Force # 14, Professional Development, would have specific criteria written, which would be a requirement that every nurse employed by the facility, be an active/participating member in their specialty. There are a few that pay dues to a specialty group, but are never seen or heard from. There are many nurses that never attend an educational offering provided by their specialty and do not interface with colleagues in the community. I realize that there is a vast number of educational programs offered on line, an perhaps a hospital education department that offers approved classes so that the employee can accrue the few hours required for state re-licensure. This is not enough, there is something lost when not interacting with colleagues in the community and being an integral part of ones whole specialty community. Hospitals should not be competing against each other based on magnet status, but it is happening. Why are not all hospital required to have the same principles as a Magnet hospital? Why does a hospital have to pay a group (the American Nursing Credentialing Commission) to strive to accomplish these forces? They don t. They should be doing this on their own, for the patient and not for recognition. Why does the ANCC commission do this? For money. In May, RN Magazine s Get Real column asked for feed back on Magnet designation, from an earlier article that described Magnet designation as, a marketing tool that skirts the issue of safe staffing levels. As with everything, not all responses agreed with the article but 80% did agree and that 80% was negative. These were comments made by nurses working in a Magnet hospital. You have to decide for yourself if better nursing care is given as a result of having magnet status
Austin AORN Newsletter Austin AORN Newsletter Legislative Update Loyce McCullough, RN, CNOR TNA s legislative group (Nursing Legislative Agenda Coalition) met in Austin in August to begin plans for the 2007 legislative session. Nineteen (19) specialties were present. In 2007, the BNE goes under Sunset Review, this occurs every 12 years. The legislature determines if the BNE is fulfilling its need and meets required functions. Other items in the forefront are continued competency of nurses (RNs and LVNs), healthcare reform, the nursing shortage, advanced practice issues, and hours worked. It is and will be important for all perioperative nurses to follow the AST s trying to get a bill submitted and passed, not only in Texas but also in other states. Spend some time looking at their website, http://arcst.org/pdfs/syllibi.pdf. Some of the advanced practice issues that are in the journals are speaking to the APN and the clinical nurse specialist; both requiring a Master s degree, but the clinical nurse cannot function the same as the APN. All facets of healthcare are on the patient safety bandwagon. Texas was the first state to pass legislation on the safety issue, for the nurse. There are 2 scholarships available for Nurse In Washington Internship (NIWI). If you are interested in learning about legislation, do not hesitate to apply for a scholarship. This will take place the same time as Congress 2007, March 11-14. To learn more you can go to www.aorn.org/gvt.affairs. Generation X Article Counting Matters! I recently encountered a disturbing revelation about someone working with me everyday. Apparently during a surgery while I was attending to my patient my scrub tech asked if we could count, the tech counted aloud pointing at sponges and claiming there were ten, I was watching the tech from the patient bedside. Little did I know the tech didn t actually have all the sponges that were counted, the count was camouflaged to make me believe there were 10. Later the tech confided in other employees that there were only 8 sponges, I did not learn of this misconception until two weeks after the surgery. I became ill, sick to my stomach worried about my patient and possible implications! I am writing about this today because counting matters to me and I take responsibility for becoming too trusting and not following through with visualizing every single thing we count! The outcome of this incident has been resolved, but I know we all take for granted that we are being told truthful information from our scrub techs and I hope this will open your eyes and you will walk over to the table and see for yourself! I know this is what we are supposed to do, but don t always think we have the time, make the time, so you won t feel horrible later because counting matters more than you know.
Austin Area AORN Chapter Officers President 2006-2007 Loyce McCullough, CNOR (H) 512-385-5092 Email: ljmcc@sbcglobal.net President-Elect 2006-2007 Dody Volcik, CNOR (H) 254-947-2113 Email: volcik@aol.com Vice President 2006-2008 Renee Khalar, CNOR (H) 512-218-9035 Email: rkhalar@austin.rr.com Treasurer 2005-2007 Marty Brown, CNOR (H) 512-863-8406 Email: lmbrown303@cox.net Board of Directors 2005-2007 Nicole Cole, RN (H) 512-301-6417 Email: nicolecolern@yahoo.com 2005-2007 Norma Soltys, RN (H) 512-266-2454 Email: soltys1@prodigy.net We re on the Web! See us at: www.austinareaaorn.org Secretary 2006-2008 Marilyn Saathoff, RN (H) 512-244-7265 Email: msaathoff@swbell.net 2006-2008 Shirley Rhoades, RN (H) 512-452-5891 Email: srhoades@grandecom.net Changes or ideas for the monthly newsletter can be sent to: ncolenewsletter@yahoo.com Austin Area AORN Chapter #4417 Marty Brown 303 Ridgewood Drive Georgetown, Texas 78628-8366