Please Note Date Change-Meeting Held March 31st-Same Time & Place

Hello Members,

Please remember to go to www.aorn.org and cast your vote! All active members are eligible to vote, this is an exciting, first time opportunity for members to participate. Remember, you don't need to be a delegate or attending Congress to vote.

Congress is fast approaching, March 19-24th, early-bird registration is closed, but registration is open now and throughout Congress week.

Our meeting this month is Thursday March 31st, which is a week later than usual due to Congress. Please print and post the educational flyer and bring a colleague or two with you to our meeting for education and networking.

We have an exciting educational opportunity coming up in May, in partnership with AORN and CareFusion and Palomar Pomerado Health. We are offering a course called "Chasing Zero", it is free to participants and offers up to 14.5 CE's. Stay tuned for additional details; check out our website .

Remember also, we are looking for volunteers for several positions in our Chapter, please see the website for details.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Michelle Fennell, President

Are the counts correct? How many times a day do we hear that?....and why do we want to know? Well, let's back up and think who else would want to know. The circulating RN, the scrub tech, the surgeon, the anesthesia provider....oh yeah and the patient.

Count information is vital to ensure that accurate accounting of all instruments, sharp and sponges, etc used during a surgical procedure is accomplished. Unresolved counts could indicate that a retained object may be in the patient and could lead to an additional x-ray being taken. With the surgical counts complete, that information is passed on to the surgeon so he or she can complete the case knowing that all items are accounted for.

Announcing that the final counts are correct is a form of risk management. Flight nurses report to aircraft pilots the final count of "souls on board" (patients and aircrew members) prior to flight as a way of identifying how many people will need to be rescued in case of an emergency landing. If the number is incorrect and there is a crash, lives may be inadvertently lost due to a counting error.

To safely complete a medical evacuation mission the pilot needs to have a good head count. For our surgeons to provide quality patient care they need to know that all the supplies and instruments used during a case are accounted for at the end of that case. Our patients have entrusted us with the responsibility to bring them back safely to their families and loved ones. We as nurses can minimize the chance of undesirable outcomes by focusing on the basics and paying attention to details.

Respectfully submitted,

Randy Blattler, Vice President

Note: Date Change-Due to AORN Congress being held Marcy 10-24th our meeting is one week later than usual.

Topic: "Flash Sterilization Best Practices"
Presenter: Maryke Schmidt, 3M Infection Prevention Division
Date: March 31, 2011
Time: 7:00 pm 6:15 General Meeting and 6:00 Networking & Refreshments
CE: 1.00 CE hour Provider # CEP 1022
Location: AMN Health Care, 12400 High Bluff Drive, San Diego, 92130

Print Meeting Flyer and Post At Work
Bring a New or Special Friend To This Important Meeting

SAN DIEGO AORN GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Call to Order: 6:30 pm

President’s Report: Voting for the National ballot began on February 22 and all the information is on the web site. Basket for auction items need to be sent to Lisa theme is California please get items to Lisa by 1st week in March. Early bird registration is over but you can still register. AORN and ANA have provided 50 free CEU’s that you can get online.

President -Elect: Lisa shared that she is having trouble with the Food Bank so she has signed up with Volunteer San Diego and will choose a date in April and wants at least 10 volunteers.

Vice- President- Randy reported that Dr. Callery would be speaking on Bariatric surgery.

Treasurer’s Report: Beginning Balance: $ 30,350.51
Income: $ 401.07
Expenses: $ 754.51
Ending Balance: $ 29,999.07

Nominating Committee: We have candidates for the following positions President-elect, Treasurer, Secretary, Board of Directors 2yr. We still need a Board of Directors 1 yr. and Nominating Committee. We still have open positions and there is willingness to serve forms on the table.

By-laws /Policy- please review proposed bylaws changes posted on the chapter website and be ready to vote next month at the March 31st meeting.

Legislative: Suzanne Ward sent minutes from ORNCC meeting. California senate bill 161 is a big issue .You can get a lot of information from the ANA web site. Also the ANAC has info on the site and they are asking all nurses to write a letter regarding the sunset bill.

Hospitality: Thanks to Ben Ribnick from Carefusion for providing dinner tonight. Next month Clifford Card will provide refreshments.

Workshop: Carefusion and AORN will be doing a Chasing Zero road show and would like our Chapter to serve as host. It will be for 3.5 Contact hours and another 9 contact hours can be received from doing hands on in their mobile truck facility which will also be there. This is a free event

Scholarship: Applications are on line. There is a 1st time congress attendee scholarship for $ 400.00 and needs to be submitted by March 1st.

Golf: Ben Ribnick reported that our date and time is locked in for June 10th at 1230. Fee will be $125.00 /golfer with BBQ dinner. Arrowood Golf will donate a certificate for four players as a gift. Arrowood Golf course is located off the 76 and 15 freeway. Ben will put together a flyer with picture of course and logo.

Announcements: We are continuing to raise money for Flowers4the float. As a chapter we cannot sell tickets per California law, Raffle tickets for a Quilt which can be viewed on line at flowers4thefloat.org are $5.00 and can be purchased on line through ORNCC Flowers4the Float.

On line voting for candidates are now open remember it is 1 member 1 vote so if you are not going to Congress you can go on line and vote.


Respectfully Submitted By:

Suzanne Higginbotham RN, CNOR

The Nominating Committee is asking all of you to consider serving your professional organization in one of our elected capacities. Positions to be filled are President-Elect; Treasurer, Secretary, Board of Director 2-year; Board of Director 1-year; and Nominating Committee.

Serving is an honor, it is fun and with many hands the work is lighter. Chair of the Nominating Committee, Vickie Pierce, has prepared a print-out of the available positions for 2011-2012. If your heart calls you to serve, and we hope it does, please complete the Willingness to Serve Form and return it to Vickie Pierce via email or at one of our Chapter meetings. Due Date is April 1st.

Legislative News March 2011

I hope everyone able to go to Congress this past week had a fun and educational experience.  March 23rd is also the anniversary date of the passage of the Health Care Reform Act.  It has been an interesting year, people including our Congress, are for or against in varying numbers. A Wall Street Journal reported a survey from the Kaiser Health Foundation found that 42% of the respondents had a favorable view, 46% had an unfavorable view while 53% were confused by the law.  A majority of the people supported the repeal of the provision requiring adults to buy health insurance. 

According to one of the ANA March legislative reports many states including those opposed to the laws, are now working to control its implementation in case the legal challenges fail.  States are applying for grants to implement the insurance exchanges called for in the legislation rather than letting the federal government operate them.

Hopefully all of you are enjoying the new Periop Insider issues. The questions from the last 2 issues are about cell phones and temperature and humidity ranges in the operating room.  Cell phones fall into recently revised Recommended Practices for Surgical Attire.  They are included in items that should NOT be taken into the semi restricted or the restricted area of the perioperative suite.

The recommended temperature and humidity range in an operating room is between 65F and 73F.  The humidity should be between 30 to 60%. Both of these should be monitored and recorded daily using a log or electronic documentation.  The risk of a fire hazard from electrostatic charges increases when the humidity is too low as well as the potential for dust.  There can also be potential risk of microbial growth when sterile supplies are stored when the humidity is too high.   

I had hoped to have some news about the two issues that are being looked at in the California Legislature this month.  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