Well here we are preparing for another storm front to roll through our perfect Southern California winter. As I settle in and make final checks, I look through the to-do lists I have made. The car is serviced and ready to go, plenty of food in the refrigerator and wood by the fireplace.  It dawns on me an item I have failed to address is my clinical nursing development skills list, again. With the approaching weather I will have some “in-doors” time to catch up on some reading and planning.

Reading, CEUs and planning for that next degree sometimes falls to the wayside. At the end of a long day of turning over rooms, case after case and managing problems, who wants to study? When we are having a beautiful Indian summer who wants to go to class and prepare power points? This is when setting goals, priorities and time-management come to the rescue.

I figure, if I knock out a couple of CEUs a week and read some literature on my breaks at work that is a good start. By the end of this year, will be my goal for where and when to go back to class. What’s left? I’m done, off to the desert……....but wait. What about the nurses I supervise? Do they have a plan, have I helped them to see the future and plan accordingly?

Back at my desk as the rain comes down in buckets, I expand my goals, plans and dreams to include the people who look to me for advice. Not only will have set goals, I will share some of them with others to help inspire them to reach for the next level. I encourage everyone to set some time aside and review where you are today, where you would like to be in the future and then make plans to move in that direction.

Submitted by Randy Blattler

Hello Everyone!

I tried to establish a volunteer activity for our group for the month of February, but I have to say it's alot harder to "volunteer" than I expected. Don't fear though, I will not give up!! I have contacted Volunteer San Diego and have a line on volunteering locally through that group. I will try to line something up for a weekend day in April. As soon as I have the date and information I will ask post it all on the website.

Have a great day!

Lisa Finch
President Elect, AORN San Diego

Another amazing program is planned for your educational enrichment.

PRINT THE FLYER-SHARE WITH FRIENDS & COLLEAGUES

Topic: Obesity and Gastric Bypass Surgery
Presenter: Dr. Charles Callery
Where: AMN Health Care 12400 High Bluff Dr., San Diego Get Directions
Time: 7:00 pm Join us for General Meeting at 6:15 and refreshments too!
CE: 1.00 CE Hour Provider # CEP 1022
Parking: Complimentary

See you there!

Want to know what's coming for March? Visit our Calendar Page

SAN DIEGO AORN GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
January 27, 2011

Call to Order: by President Michelle Fennell.

President’s Report: ORNCC meeting is February 5, 2011 in Oakland. Michelle handed out papers on the new voting procedure this year at congress. You can also go on-line to aorn.org ,to see a presentation of the new voting process. Early bird registration for congress ends February 21, 2011. There are scholarships available from the AORN foundation and the application is on line and must be received by February 1, 2011. Golf tournament will be June 10th , the 2nd Friday in June at Arrowwood golf course in Oceanside.

President -Elect: Lisa would like all articles to her by February 8th. She suggest that we do some kind of community service like the food bank. She would like to see us do it on a Thursday February 17th from.6-9pm .

Vice- President- Randy will give a talk tonight on providing health care to the Muslim community. Looking for speakers.

Nominating Committee: Vickie read the open positions for the upcoming election. President-Elect, Treasurer, Secretary, Board of Director 2yr &1yr Nominating Committee 2yr & 1yr. Ballot needs to be completed in April for placing on the web and then May voting.

Bylaws: Board approved changes to the by-laws. Changes are basically just to keep in line with AORN national. Proposed changes will be placed on web and voting will take place on March 31.

Hospitality: Thanks to PPH who brought refreshments for tonight.

Legislative: See report on web site.

Workshop: We will not be able to have a Spring workshop on the Mercy. Looking for suggestions on topics for the work shop.

Scholarship: Vickie announced that there is a 1st time congress attendee scholarship and the deadline is March 1st.Also the CNOR/RNFA scholarships are available.

Ways & Means: We collected $6.00 for the Flowers for the Float and $ 23.00 for the raffle tickets. Raffle tickets for the gift basket are available for $1.00/each or 6 /$5.00.

New Business: AORN Foundation is looking for chapters to provide a silent auction basket with items typical to your area. Southern California theme was suggested. Asking for all hospital to contribute an item for the basket and bring it to the February meeting. Lisa will coordinate and send basket.

Announcements: Secretary for ORNCC was present and announced that ORNCC has scholarships for education and also that are trying to raise money for Flowers for the Float. She also said they would like to see a lot more of us attend ORNCC meetings.


Respectfully Submitted By:

Suzanne Higginbotham RN,CNOR

Submitted by Anne Hones, Treasurer

Legislative News February 2011

Up to this date, there has been several issues of the Periop Insider. The Question of the week in the newest one is: Can nail polish be worn by staff in the operating room?  Answer: Nail polish that is unchipped and applied within 4 days may be worn by staff.  Studies have shown that polish that is chipped or older than four days will begin to harbor micro-organisms. Also in the event of a glove tear or perforation the chipped polish could potentially get into the wound. 

Another Question is: How long can a sterile field be opened prior to the procedure? Answer: The AORN recommended practice on maintaining a sterile field states that the sterile field should be established as close as possible to the operative procedure.  If it is established in advance, it should be monitored continuously.  This of course comes from our own Perioperative Standards and Recommended Practices.   

A current newsletter from the Premier Safety Share newsletter of January 2011 is that “wrong-site surgery” or “wrong patient surgery” is still happening—and not just in the OR.  A recent study in Colorado identified 132 wrong-site or wrong-patient events with 56% of these occurring in non-surgical procedures performed by surgeons outside of the OR.  Miscommunication was identified as a contributing root cause in 100% of the wrong patient-procedure cases and in 72% of the wrong-site procedures a “Time-out” was NOT performed.  For the complete study, see me and I will see that you get a copy.

Other legislative and regulatory news from my ANA newsletters are as follows. The most current one says the Republicans are planning to defund health reform by withholding money when the health reform law is finalized. This will probably be done by an amendment added before the final vote.  Another Policy and Regulatory News change will be a CMS rule to expand policy on patient quality complaints.  The rule would require most Medicare providers and suppliers to notify Medicare providers and suppliers about their right to file complaints concerning their quality of care.       
 
I will report on these issues at a later date.      
  
Submitted by Virginia L. Ogren RN, BSN, CNOR