Newsletter

It's October and we are into the second month of our new year. Much is going on so read the Chapter News and check out other pages on our web site.

"Listen! the wind is rising,
and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings,
now for October eves!"
- Humbert Wolfe

I have to say that October is one of my favorite month's of the year. I love to walk outside and feel the cool breeze, go to football games, look for a pumpkin or two, snuggle up with a good book and a cup of coffee. I hope that each of you have a fond memory that makes you smile in October.

This month will be a busy one for AORN members. We will be volunteering at 100 mile bike ride, we will be collecting food for a local food pantry, and we will be posing for a PNW picture. The volunteer opportunity was posted on our website and on our Facebook page. We only had 2 volunteers this time, it was short notice - but since it was a "medical personnel" request I chose this opportunity. If anyone is interested and didn't rsvp to me contact: Linda Ingram (Director of Volunteer Resources, Pacific South Coast Chapter, National Multiple Sclerosis Society,12121 Scripps Summit Drive, Suite 190, San Diego, CA 92131, tel +1 760 448 8416), she may still have some spaces available. Food Drive: for the next meeting in October we would like to collect at least 50 items to donate to a local food pantry. Canned goods and non-perishable items are encouraged, I will load up all of the donations and take them to the pantry. Last, but not least, we will be taking a group photo for Perioperative Nurses Week. Please wear a white shirt for the photo, we will have a sign to hold.

We still have some openings for board positions as well as committees. One of our board members, Jeff Belcher, is moving out of state and we will need to fill his position of Nominating Committee member (1yr). Our VP, Randy Blattler, is deployed - currently Michelle Fennell is filling in for him and I'm sure she would love help in planning education sessions for our group. The Spring Workshop committee is empty....we need lots of volunteers to make this a successful venture. These are just a few of the opportunities awaiting you at AORN of San Diego. If you want more information contact me at lfinchrn@gmail.com or Vickie Pierce.

I'm looking forward to seeing you at our next meeting. Remember to wear white and a smile for the picture.

Lisa Finch, Chapter President

Welcome to my favorite season Fall.  And with Fall we are in full AORN mode.  Check out all the events and activities listed on the website.  We are a busy chapter with this month’s Food Drive, a Winery Tour in November and Perioperative Nurse Week as well.  All these activities don’t happen by themselves.  It takes many volunteers to make it all happen.  

Take a look at the Committee Page and you will find committee each listed and a brief description of the committee activities and the committee chairperson’s contact email.  Please take time to volunteer and serve. 

You will notice we have some vacancies.  Do you “Facebook”? We are in need of you and your swift fingers.  Our Social Media Chair has moved we need someone to take his place.  Get involved with your local professional organization you won’t be sorry.

Vickie Pierce, President-Elect

Topic: "Hand Hygiene in the Perioperative Setting"
Speaker: Maryke Schmidt, from 3M
CE: 1 CE hour provider number CEP 1022 (Print Flyer and share)
Time: CE program at 7:00 pm; General Meeting 6:15 pm
Location: AMN Health Care 12400 High Bluff Drive, San Diego, 92130

Wear a white shirt for our Perioperative Nurse Week Group Photo! Come and let's make it a BIG GROUp! Print the flyer and post at work and bring a friend.

November 12th 12:30 -4:00
Circle this date and print the flyer and register now (note registration isn't visible on the site but will show once the flyer is printed) so you will have a seat. This is a new winery the Chapter is trying and all reports are that it is fabulous. 1 CE for a program on Disaster Preparedness by our own Anne Hones. It starts at 12:30 until 4:00. What a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

SAN DIEGO AORN GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
September 22, 2011

Call to Order: by President Lisa Finch at 6:25 pm.

Approval of Minutes: MSC to approve minutes as printed.

President’s Report: Lisa would like to see our attendance doubled by next month .ORNCC will be October 15 th in Burbank, Vicki and Michelle will be going if anyone else wants to go let them know. Volunteer opportunities for Saturday, October 22 nd, in a serve a thon, sponsored by Volunteer San Diego, if interested contact Lisa. OR Nurse week November 7-13. Periop- Insider magazine is offering a, Peri-op Nurse Week photo opts, and the best entry gets money. Plan on having a Group photo taken next month to be submitted. Lisa would like to offer a Saturday meeting; she will put out the suggestion on face book. Lisa would like to see our attendance increase from 10% to 20 %. In October we will do a food drive, bring in a none perishable item.
Randy has been called to duty and will be gone until February. Michelle will assume the interim position.

Treasurer’s Report: Beginning Balance: $ 26,921.67
Income: $ 466.67
Expenses: $ 528.00
Ending Balance: $ 26860.14

Membership- 301 standard, 81 -Retired, Associate & 3 year members. Linda suggest grab a friend and car pool

Legislative: Virginia reported ANA health insurance exchange. Gynecological society of medicine reported that 1in 10, of 1273 respondents thought you could still have a baby after a hysterectomy. Women with very dense tissue could be candidates for breast cancer because it is hard to get accurate results with dense tissue. Virginia will put more information on the web page after reading the peri-op insider.

Hospitality: Karen Thomas & Paula Duran-PPH- October, December potluck bring a dish to share ,January-(open) February – Tri City, March- Scripps, April –Sharp Healthcare, May- (open) and June installation.

Workshop: Anne looked into going to the Bernardo Winery; it would be limited to 20 people. A tour and wine tasting for $25.00/person. Saturday November 12th from 1:00-4:00. Topic disaster preparedness.

Social Media-Please everyone go onto Facebook and click like for our site.

Scholarship: If you are a 1st time CNOR of RNFA and you took your exam and passed between April1st and September 30th and you have been a member in good standing for a year the Chapter gives out 2 partial reimbursements for test fees. Deadline is November 1st; all info is on the web site.

Ways & Means-.Flowers 4 the float we are collecting money each month in support of the float. Raffle tonight is for a bottle of wine. There is a picture of a quilt which is being raffled for Flowers 4 the float. Tickets are $5.00 each or 6 for $25.00 you can go online to purchase tickets. If you want to ride on the float there are 12 seats and you can by one for $30,000.00. There will be a wine and cheese reception on October 12th, from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Phoenix Float in Pasadena. Sally Bixby who will be President of the Tournament of Roses will be there with a behind the scenes tour to see how floats are built, price is $50.00.

Best Practice- Michelle said that 2 of the scholarship recipients who have completed their education will present their research in April.

Unfinished Business:

New Business: Food drive in October. Committee sign up and willingness to serve forms are on table please take a look. Name tags will be available, make them and leave them here. Lisa will bring them each month. This way we can get to know one another.

Announcements: Jim Stobinski, a past chapter member is now Director of Certification Services at CCI.

Tonight’s meeting is on fire prevention in the OR and at home. We will show a video from AORN and then have some firefighters on hand.


Respectfully Submitted By:

Suzanne Higginbotham RN, CNOR

Legislative News October 2011

The clinical questions in the last several Periop Insider have been very interesting.  And no, I did not find my lost files, just got them again from the website.  

The question in the Insider from September:  “How long can a sterile field be open prior to the procedure”? This is not a new question, and the recommended practice from AORN is this field should be established as close to the time of the surgical procedure as possible.  The purpose of monitoring is to observe for or prevent an event leading to contamination of the sterile field. The health care organization should have policies and procedures for this and what it means is that the field must be monitored continuously. Also in this issue is something related to Congress 2012 and that is the Congress housing is filling up rapidly. 

Another very interesting question relates to propofol.  The question:  “Has propofol been classified as a controlled substance”?  The American Society for Anesthesiologists (ASA) released a statement in 2009 saying that propofol SHOULD be scheduled as a controlled substance under the Controlled Substance Act.  This is meant to provide tighter controls on the substance in order to protect the health and well being of the providers who administer the propofol.  The ASA also says it should only be used in a controlled environment and administered by health care professionals who are qualified to administer general anesthesia and rescue patients should problems arise. To this date, the drug is NOT under the Controlled Substance Act which hopefully would reduce propofol abuse.

ANA (American Nurses Association) and AHA (American Hospital Association) have written a letter to the congressional deficit-reduction committee, asking that Medicare and Medicaid payment to hospitals not be reduced at this time.  Such cuts “will not only jeopardize access to healthcare services, but also the jobs of those who provide them”. The committee has until Nov. 23 to produce $1.2 trillion in new revenues or spending cuts.  In the same issue of ANA Smart Brief several issues relate to California specifically.  The California governor has signed several new bills:  one related to HPV testing for girls without parental consent.  Another bill signed was the Confidentially of Medical Information Act which also will take effect January 1st.as well. This requires electronic medical systems to automatically track changes to stored information, including who made the changes. 

For more information on these issues please log on to the most current issues from Periop Insider and ANA Smart Brief. These are both a benefit to all AORN members and can be accessed on line at the AORN website.  If you need help doing this contact me.

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