A vision and a promise

Article Outline

• People to Thank
• An Indispensable Resource
• The Year Ahead
• New Task Force
• A Legacy for the Future
• Copyright

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• William J. Duffy, RN

Colleagues, on March 25,2004, a transition occurred. I am not talking about the transition from one AORN leader to the next. I am talking about a transition that occurred inside of me. It always has been my role in AORN to advocate for a constituency, but the moment I became your President, that changed. Now I advocate for the entire Association and not just a segment of it. No matter where you work or how you interact with AORN, it is my job to make sure that your voice and views are heard and considered by AORN's Board of Directors.

This transition did not occur overnight. It started the moment I joined AORN. During the years, many of you have helped me develop my leadership skills. Every time I visited a chapter, I watched and listened to your celebrations and your challenges. I took these insights and a piece of your passion for AORN and blended them with my own. Each of these encounters became a part of me, and to this day, they influence my perceptions of who we are as periop-erative nurses and where we are going. It is clear to me that your mentoring has helped me develop into the leader that I am today. I want you to know that this is your Presidency because a part of you is with me and guiding me in my service to you.

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People to Thank 

In every process, there are a special few who stand out for their help. First and, most importantly, is my wife, Chic, who has been my friend, mentor, and colleague for almost 20 years. She convinced me to share my talents with our local AORN chapter, and she keeps me anchored to the needs of the clinical nurse at the patient's side. In our household, clinical caregivers are the heart and soul of our profession, and Chic will not let me stray far from focusing on that aspect of perioperative practice. I also want to recognize my wife's efforts at holding down the fort while I am serving you. She juggles my schedule, as well as our children's and her own schedule, while maintaining her professional practice.

I also am grounded in reality by my three wonderful daughters, Katie, Patty, and Becky, who make Chic and me proud every day. They are scholars and athletes who keep us young through their mentoring about the joys and challenges that are a part of different generational perspectives. To paraphrase Bette Midler, Chic and my children are the wind beneath my wings.

I also would like to acknowledge my colleagues at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Evanston, Ill. It is an honor to practice with such a committed group of professionals, especially Christine Bloomfield, RN, MSN, CNOR; Annette Dopp, RN, BSN, CNOR, and Kate O'Toole, RN, BS, BSN, CNOR. These colleagues are my trusted advisors who make their personal vision of perioperative nursing a reality. I especially want to acknowledge Annette and Christine for keeping things moving forward at work while Kate and I are away serving you. I am blessed to practice with such wonderful leaders whose commitment to perioperative nursing, AORN, and me allow me to continue to practice my profession while I serve my profession. In addition, I want to recognize all my colleagues from Chicago and Illinois. I cannot put into words the feelings I have for the support and respect you have provided me over the years.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the AORN past Presidents I have served with, because each of them provided me with insights I can use in my service to you. For example, past President Patricia Seifert, RN, MSN, CNOR, CRNFA, FAAN, taught me about the art of chess and planning multiple moves to be able to achieve an objective. Past President Sheila L. Allen, RN, BSN, CNOR, CRNFA, taught me about keeping a positive attitude no matter how big or difficult the problem seems. Past President Donna S. Watson, RN, MSN, CNOR, ARNP, FNP-C, taught me about sticking to your beliefs despite contrarian views, and past President Betty Shultz, RN, CNOR, taught me about the benefit of collaboration with outside groups to achieve inside objectives.

Most importantly, however, I want to recognize past President Brenda C. Ulmer, RN, MN, CNOR. I don't think many of you know about the challenges AORN faced during Brenda's term, but she led us through these challenges, especially the change in lead-ership at Headquarters, with such grace and dignity that she made an everlasting impression on me. I know that if I serve you with half the grace and dignity Brenda did, I will have served you well.

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An Indispensable Resource 

I believe that one of the major issues facing perioperative nursing is repeated efforts to turn what we do from practicing a profession into performing a job. I believe that a major factor in this effort is that many of our colleagues are in situations where they receive little support to maintain a professional practice and little recognition of the value they bring to their practice. Their daily life is so filled with pressure to be more efficient and con-trol costs that they are assimilating that way of thinking. It appears they slowly are losing perspective about what we do as perioperative nurses and the value we bring. This battle for the heart and soul of our profession is taking place in thousands of ORs across the country on a daily basis. As leaders in our profession, I believe we need to help our colleagues in this struggle and truly become an indispensable resource for perioperative nurses.

AORN's prime directive is to serve the needs of our members, and the members are telling us clearly that they want AORN to focus on their needs in the workplace. Although members may have an interest in who can vote in AORN or who can be a member, I believe they are more interested in how to better care for their patients, how to handle the fiscal and social challenges they face, and how to handle challenges for their spot in the OR.

AORN is a strong Association that can focus its efforts on both governance and practice, but I believe if perioperative nurses are to thrive in the future, we need to focus on the issues that matter to AORN's core constituency. If the Association does not take the lead in discussing these issues, perioperative nurses will look to others. The slow drop in AORN's membership is a wake-up call AORN's leaders cannot ignore.

AORN members want something more. They want the Association to focus on what has made AORN great. They want AORN out in front on issues in the OR, so the Board of Directors, members, and staff members at Headquarters will focus on that this year. We may not solve many of these issues during the next 12 months, but we certainly are going to discuss and debate them. The sight of colleagues lined up several deep at microphones during the Forum at AORN's annual Congress in San Diego, March 21–25, 2004, reminded me of the AORN I grew up in and the AORN I love. We will work hard to keep the energy displayed at Congress flowing into next year's Congress and beyond.

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The Year Ahead 

During the coming year, task force and committee members will discuss and debate key practice issues. I also have appointed a task force that is made up almost entirely of the next generation of perioperative nurses. They all are excited about becoming involved in AORN, and they will help AORN and its chapters gain insight into how to connect better with younger generation colleagues. These individuals are out there, and they want to be involved. Reach out to them and make them feel valued for their commitment to the perioperative profession. We may have different styles of connecting, but we are one family. I believe mixing our strengths and values will propel us forward.

This year, I want our future leaders to see what is involved in leading the perioperative profession. To that end, we will invite committee members who will be at the leadership conference to attend part of the July Board of Directors' meeting. I also have made member services and AORN's marketing plan standing agenda items at our Board meetings. I want AORN to collect and disseminate information that will help perioperative leaders and other colleagues justify the value of perioperative nurses.

This is just a sample of the work we will do. These are basic but ambitious goals that go to the heart of AORN. To be successful, we will need each of you to help, and I promise you that I will not ask you to do something I am not willing to do myself. As we move forward, look for opportunities to celebrate the value you bring to your own practice and the practice of others, engage in debates on practice issues, pitch in at your chapter, or be an ambassador for AORN. We cannot ask someone else to do this; it is our mission.

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New Task Force 

Finally, I want to discuss the Perioperative Nursing Data Set (PNDS) Balanced Scorecard Task Force. I invite interested leaders to contact me about joining this task force. Task force members will participate in creating a data repository using the Dopp/ Battie standardized collection and measurement tool. This will allow AORN to benchmark perioperative nurses' performance against that of their colleagues. The key to this repository is that we can share this information confidentially. It is not information collected by an outside group interested in selling a service or advancing an agenda.

All it takes to become a member of this task force is a willingness to share data through a confidential web portal. AORN staff members currently are working on developing the reporting tools that will allow members to benchmark information against other contributors. We believe this data will help members answer the eternal question of how they are doing compared to others and will show the value perioper-ative nurses bring to their patients. It is time that we, as AORN members, collect our knowledge and share it with each other so we can tackle the challenges we face together. If you are interested in participating in creating this repository, please fill out a willingness-to-serve form and send it to my attention at AORN, Inc, 2170 S Parker Rd, #300, Denver, CO 80231–5711.

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A Legacy for the Future 

Colleagues, we own our profession. That means it is our turn to care for its well-being and be responsible for whatever successes or failures perioperative nursing achieves. It is an awesome responsibility, but I believe we have the power to achieve our preferred future. I know many of you have worked long and hard for this exact goal, and I am asking you to dig deep, fire up your passion one more time, and join the Board in this effort.

Our actions during the coming year will determine the legacy we leave future generations of perioperative nurses. I know we can make a difference. I believe in our power. Let's make some noise this year, and I guarantee we will have some fun. It is my honor to serve you, and as the great James Brown once said, “I feel good!”