New Opportunities

Article Outline

• Ambulatory Surgery
• Magnet Recognition
• Patient Education
• Research
• Standards, Recommended Practices, Guidelines, and Tool Kits
• International Interests
• Safety
• Regulatory and Accreditation Updates
• Business and Financial Information
• Interventional Procedures
• Author Mentoring
• Let Us Hear From You
• Copyright

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I am honored to be the new Editor-in-Chief of the AORN Journal, and it has been so much easier to step into this role with the assistance of former Editor-in-Chief Nancy Girard, PhD, RN, FAAN, who has been a mentor, a colleague, and a friend. During the past six years, Dr Girard and the Journal's hard-working Editorial Board and staff have completed two Journal redesigns, partnered with a new publisher, initiated an electronic manuscript submission process, and increased the number of manuscripts submitted to the Journal. I am most appreciative of the dedication that is consistently demonstrated by these colleagues.

The Journal's strength lies in publishing feature articles and columns that showcase innovative clinical techniques; research studies and evidence-based practices; and education, management, and patient and workplace safety topics, among others. I am committed to maintaining these valuable components that enhance perioperative nursing practice, knowledge, and skill.

I also envision exciting new opportunities to broaden the Journal's scope and add further value for readers. For your consideration, here is a sampling of what I consider to be additional important topic areas for future issues of the AORN Journal. I'd like to hear from you about these proposed ideas or others that you may have.

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Ambulatory Surgery 

With the majority of operative and other invasive procedures being performed in the ambulatory setting, the Journal is committed to publishing articles that address the needs of nurses and patients in ambulatory arenas, physicians' offices, and other settings where time is limited but complex competencies are not. Articles about both inpatient and outpatient procedures are crucial to Journal readers.

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Magnet Recognition 

Magnet Recognition cannot be accomplished without a strong perioperative component. The challenge is not an absence of perioperative examples and sources of evidence, it is articulating and demonstrating the multiple ways that perioperative nurses meet the Magnet criteria. If you are working toward Magnet status or you have achieved Magnet Recognition, consider writing an article to share your accomplishments and assist your colleagues in achieving Magnet Recognition.

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Patient Education 

Nurses are teachers. In many cases, a one-page patient teaching sheet would help clinicians to educate patients and their family members. That these patient education tools are published less frequently in nursing journals than in the medical literature strikes me as a shortcoming that we can easily correct. Who better than nurses to provide both verbal and written instructions? I would like to encourage authors to include in their manuscripts a patient teaching tool that could be used by other caregivers.

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Research 

Respect for the AORN Journal in the health care community is due in no small part to the caliber of its research articles. We want to encourage researchers in clinical, academic, and other settings to showcase the work they are doing and to build a more extensive body of evidence that supports clinical practice.

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Standards, Recommended Practices, Guidelines, and Tool Kits 

Practices that are “recommended” can be implemented in a variety of ways and still comply with the recommendations. Readers can benefit from reading about inpatient, outpatient, endoscopic, interventional, and other applications of the recommended practices. AORN's standards, the Perioperative Nursing Data Set, and tool kits are dynamic and practical resources that can be used in different settings in different ways. Your colleagues can benefit from learning about your innovative use of these tools.

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International Interests 

AORN's interest in international topics has increased to reflect the increasing global influence of perioperative nursing. An international column that captures the rich diversity of our national and international colleagues' efforts as consultants, teachers, proponents of standards, and policy initiators that have an impact on global health care will add value for our readers.

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Safety 

The concept of “safety” continues to expand into newer as well as traditional areas such as pharmacology, correct site surgery, communication, patient hand offs, fall prevention, environment-of-care concerns, and infection prevention. We will continue to present topics that exemplify AORN's ongoing commitment to patient and caregiver safety.

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Regulatory and Accreditation Updates 

We must all be attentive to myriad regulatory and accrediting requirements. The Joint Commission; the Ambulatory Surgery Center Quality Collaboration, of which AORN is a member; and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are just some of the agencies and organizations that touch our professional lives. Perioperative nurses can benefit from receiving the most current information on regulations and safety goals and ways in which these can be met specifically in the perioperative setting.

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Business and Financial Information 

Although most clinicians may not control—or want to control—the purse strings, perioperative managers have large financial responsibilities. Clinicians can enhance their role as decision makers and participants in their organization's strategic planning by understanding basic aspects of budgets and finance. Clinical innovations have budgetary implications, and new products require financial scrutiny. Perioperative nurses can increase their power and exert greater control over their practice if they have an understanding of financial “basics.” Wouldn't this knowledge increase perioperative nurses' ability to become true partners within the surgical team?

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Interventional Procedures 

Patients undergoing interventional procedures have needs that perioperative nurses can meet, such as safety, education, infection control, asepsis, and anxiety reduction. What patient needs in this environment can AORN's standards and recommended practices address? There is tremendous potential for perioperative nurses to demonstrate their knowledge, competence, and skill in this growing arena.

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Author Mentoring 

Next to public speaking, writing is probably the most frightening activity some people can perform. How can we assist new—and experienced—writers? Would the creation of a writer mentoring program that brings together new and published authors be a valuable resource? Let us know if you'd like to participate, either as a novice or an experienced author.

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Let Us Hear From You 

I believe that these topics are important for our readers, but I want to hear from you. Most of all, we want you to share your expertise with other Journal readers. If you have a manuscript, submit it to the AORN Journal online at http://ees.elsevier.com/aorn. If you have an outline or idea, please do not hesitate to contact me at tseifert@aorn.org or contact the editorial staff at aornjournal@aorn.org so we can help you develop it. I look forward to working with you to further strengthen the AORN Journal, the official voice of perioperative nursing.