Welcome to this issue of your Chapter News. Find out what happened last month and the exciting events planned for May. You don't want to miss the Spring Workshop or the Golf Tournament or the April 28th meeting.

Mark your calendars! We have some exciting events and educational opportunities coming up for our chapter. This month's chapter meeting features Dr. Barrera presenting "Bloodless Surgery"; please join us; print the flyer and post in your departments and bring a guest (remember you don't need to be a member to attend!).

Next month, on Friday May 13th our chapter, in association with the AORN Foundation, CareFusion, and Palomar Pomerado Health, is offering a free educational event titled "It takes a Village"; 14.5 CE's are available; specific information is available further in the Chapter News. You will need to register at www.aorn.org.

Our annual Golf Tournament is scheduled for Friday June 10th. Print the flyer and post in your department!

Also, we are still looking for volunteers for board positions; please see or contact Vickie Pierce for more information and a willingness to serve form.

I look forward to seeing you at the April meeting.

Submitted,

Michelle Fennell, President

Looks like “spring” is finally here.  I just had rain-gutters put up so that is probably it for the rain this year. Spring cleaning, tax deadlines, Easter and spring-break, are all in our near future. Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the big event, when AORN brings the “2011 It Takes a Village Seminar Series” to San Diego.

The date is Friday May 13 and will be the “hot ticket” for peri-operative professional. With only 6 cities in the U.S. being offered this opportunity, the turn out should be great. Medication safety and infection control in the hospital setting are main topics and will be sure to draw attention from the local community and news organizations.

Did we say “CEU”s and spring workshop? While this event will take the place of our annual spring workshop, those of you who attend will be rewarded with a free toolkit to take back to your facilities and the opportunity to earn up to 14.5 CEUs in one day.  A lunch voucher, free registration for members and it that only takes two minutes to register on-line at www.aorn.org. What is stopping you?

Anyway, enjoy the few remaining whispers of winter and bask in our warm weather of spring. Hope to see you all in the coming weeks.

Randy Blattler RN
Chapter Vice-President

Happy Spring!

I am very excited to announce that the "San Diego AORN Volunteers" group has been formed. So far we have 15 members that have expressed interest in joining our group helping the community. We are using the group "volunteer San Diego" as our home base to choose the events we will support. Our first volunteer opportunity is on Saturday, May 7th - from 9am until 12pm at 9455 Waples Street, Suite 135 San Diego CA, USA 92121. We currently have 5 out of 15 of the volunteers that have confirmed that they can attend. This is the group we will be helping and a little information about what we will be doing. If you are interested in joining our volunteer group please send me an email at lfinchrn@gmail.com and I will add you to our list of volunteers.

Feeding America San Diego
Help alleviate hunger in San Diego County by volunteering at Feeding America San Diego. Volunteers contribute 46% of all the labor at Feeding America San Diego (more than 19,000 hours a year!) which enables them to ensure that .98 cents out of every dollar goes directly to programs. All projects are geared around bagging, boxing, and distributing more than 1.2 million pounds of food a month.

Each event has a variety of projects such as sorting, organizing, cleaning and repacking bulk food into family size bags. Volunteers will sort through donations and organize food into categories for the 165 agencies to easily gather what is needed in the community the next day. Volunteering at Feeding America San Diego offers a great way to serve our community, a perfect opportunity to meet new people, and a great time.
Additional Project Information: All volunteers MUST wear closed-toe shoes to volunteer - tennis or running shoes work great! Wear appropriate warehouse clothes that you don't mind getting dirty or stained. The distribution center does not have AC or heat - we urge you to dress accordingly. Eating or drinking is permitted in the break room only. Please no horseplay in the warehouse and no riding or standing on pallet jacks. No iPods or mp3 players. You must sign in upon arrival.

Our April Education Meeting is "Bloodless Surgery" presented by Dr. Hugo Barrera from Sharp Chula Vista. 1 CE hour will be provided and our BRN # is CEP 1022. Print the flyer for more meeting and location information.

Come at 6:00 for refreshments and to attend the General Meeting which gives you all the information about what is going on with your Chapter.

On May 13, from 8-12 the Chapter Spring Workshop is a traveling educational program presented by CareFusion, the AORN Foundation, and Palomar Pomorado Hospitals. Only 6 cities have been chosen to offer this event.

Good news? Its Free and you get 14.5 CE's plus other goodies to take back to work and home. Lunch is provided. Mark this on your calendar! Ask for the day off at work! Print the flyer! Print Hospital Handout! Post the flyer at work! Come with a friend.

June 10th 12:30 Shotgun at Arrowood Golf Course is the annual Chapter Golf Tournament. This is one of our most important events because the funds raised on this day go to pay for scholarship and support delegates to AORN Congress. Print the flyer and make your plans now to attend this fun day!

Ben Ribnick is Chair of this event so if you want to participate or have questions please contact him at benjamin.ribnick@carefusion.com or by phone at 951-551-5451.

SAN DIEGO AORN GENERAL MEETING MINUTES March 31, 2011

Call to Order: at 6:30 pm by President Michelle.

Approval of Minutes: MSC to approve minutes as printed.

President’s Report: Michelle started the meeting with a welcome to all and then called Vickie Pierce to come up front where she was congratulated on receiving the Jerry G. Peers distinguished service award at congress and presented with a bouquet of flowers. Michelle announced that we donated $500.00 to the AORN Foundation for the chapter challenge.
Congress housing for next year is already open for Congress in New Orleans March 24-29. It Takes a Village, critical success factors for a sustainable hospital infection prevention program seminar, workshop is Friday, May 13th 8-12pm .It is free and then an additional opportunity for CEU’s in the workshop truck. It will be hosted by PPH, Black Mountain Conference facility.

President -Elect: Web page articles are due by April 11th. Lisa has submitted us as a team to volunteer for community service. Others can go to www.volunteersandiego.org if they want to register as an individual.

Vice President- Maryke Schmidt from 3M will be speaking on Flash Sterilization tonight. Refreshments will be provided by Clifford Card. Encouraged everyone to hang posters at work to promote the workshop. All speaker slots are filled for this year. If anyone knows of other speakers put them in contact with Randy for next year.

Treasurer’s Report: Beginning Balance: $ 29,997.07
Income: $ 1134.59
Expenses: $ 4215.00
Ending Balance: $ 26,916.66

Nominating Committee: We have candidates for the following offices Pres.-Elect- SecretaryTreasurer,2yr Board of Directorsd,1yr Board of Directors x2, ( none) for the Nominating Committee 1 & 2 year. Willingness to serve forms are on the table in the lobby.

By-Laws /Policy: MSC- to approve the by-laws as printed on the web.

Hospitality: Refreshments provided by Clifford Card. Sharp is in April.

Workshop: Workshop “It Takes a Village” sponsored by Carefusion and AORN, will be held at a PPH facility on Friday, May 13, 2011 from 8-12:00pm.

Informatics: Suzanne Ward reported that we have someone who wants to advertise on our web site.

Scholarship: Vickie has received 2 packets for education scholarships. If anyone has taken the CNOR or RNFA for the 1st time application is on web site

Membership- 351

Golf: Ben reported Golf tournament is Friday June 10th at Arrowood Golf course .He will get the flyer out in the next few days.

Ways & Means
Unfinished Business:
New Business:
Announcements:
Respectfully Submitted By: Suzanne Higginbotham RN, CNOR

Legislative News April 2011

The last issues of Periop Insider haves had several interesting questions or news briefs.  “Can we store sterile items with non-sterile items and what conditions necessary for storage of sterile supplies?”

The best storage planning ensures that sterile supplies are stored at least 8 to 10inches from the floor and at least 18 inches from the ceiling.  Also sterile supplies should be stored separately from clean supplies.  If they must be stored together, the sterile supplies should be on the top shelves and the clean supplies on the lower shelves in a closed cupboard in the operating room or procedure rooms. In the same issue, a News Brief said that a new calculator helps surgeons predict patient risks of complication after bariatric operations.  I will report more on this one when I have additional information. Periop Insider is really a great addition to AORN publications

The ANA Smart Brief has had some very interesting legislative updates in the latest issues. On 4/13 it was reported that the House clears bill to repeal the Prevention and Public Health Fund.  The Republicans said the health care law provision is a “slush fund” that allows HHS to take unchecked control over health care budgets.  President Obabma has said he will veto the measure.  In the same issue, the Democrats want to create a campaign to support the health care legislation.  In the 4/15 issue the top story was about a Bill to loosen criteria for Medicare skilled nursing care.  This bill would count observational care as an inpatient hospital stay in the criteria for Medicare skilled nursing care.  This bill was lauded by several health organizations, including the American Medical Association.  Also in this issue, Public Citizen, a consumer-advocacy group, petitioned the FDA a second time to prohibit the sale of Orlistat, a diet pill sold as Xenical.  According to this group the drug has the potential to cause significant damage to multiple critical organs, but they provide meager benefits in reducing weight loss in obese and overweight patients.   

I have spent a lot of time trying to have some news about the two issues I reported on in the last report that were before the California Legislature in March.  One is Diastat being given to school children by persons OTHER than nurses which is not allowed in California, as this is considered to be a nursing function and not able to be delegated to a non nursing persons.  The other issue before the ANA|C is about sun setting the BRN Board.  There are no results posted as yet for these issues.  

I will report on these issues at a later date.      
  
Submitted by Virginia L. Ogren RN, BSN, CNOR           

Peach Cobbler:
1 1/2 cup sel-rising flour , 8 TBS butter, 1/2 cup water, 2 cups sugar (divided), 4 cups peeled/sliced peaches, 1 1/2 cups milk, ground cinnamon

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the peaches, 1 cup sugar, and water in a saucepan and mix well. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Put the butter in a 3-quart baking dish and place in oven to melt. Mix remaining 1 cup sugar, flour, and milk slowly to prevent clumping. Pour mixture over melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon fruit on top, gently pouring in syrup. Sprinkle top with ground cinnamon, if using. Batter will rise to the top during baking. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes. To serve, scoop onto a plate and serve with your choice of whipped topping or vanilla icecream.

In June we will have the Officer Induction during our meeting. I have asked Peka to try to reserve one of the following places for that meeting: Bali Hai, Donovan's or Tom Ham's Lighthouse. I hope that everyone would like to attend and enjoy treating yourself to a nice dinnner. More information to come in May.

Have a wonderful Spring!

Lisa Finch, President-Elect