Students enjoy attending Congress and learning about the OR; Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - Student Session

AORN Journal, July, 2002 by Nikki Parker

Nursing students attended a special breakfast in their honor during Congress. Members of the AORN Board of Directors, staff members, and other nursing leaders networked with students to learn more about their needs and to generate dialogue among students and AORN. President Sheila Allen welcomed students to Congress. After the breakfast, a day-long session was held to introduce students to the OR.

STUDENT FEEDBACK

Kimberly Shaffer, CST, a nursing student who works at Mercury Health Center in Oklahoma City, said, "As a late bloomer I decided to go back to school to get my BSN." Her hospital is helping technologists go back to school to become RNs, and she says the support at her hospital, particularly from the perioperative nurses, has been wonderful. "I can't wait to get through school to be a real nurse," she said.

Jackie Cummings, CST, who works at Kaiser, Oakland, Calif, says that although her hospital has a program for unlicensed personnel entering nursing school, there is not a big drive to get them back into school. Cummings found out about Congress through her local AORN chapter but decided to attend when she visited AORN's web site and found that students could attend at no charge.

Two students from North Georgia College and State University, Dahlonega, Denise Cantrell and Nikki Miller, attended the breakfast and student session. Both students chose nursing to help people and to make a difference. For Miller, experiences within the health care system as a patient and the family member of a patient also left a lasting, positive impression of nurses.

When questioned about the age of students in their nursing program, Miller and Cantrell said that the majority are nontraditional students. Cantrell thinks this is because entering nursing school is a big commitment, and it may be hard for someone right out of high school.

Greg Pula, a student at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, is participating in an accelerated second degree to BSN program. After earning a degree in aerospace engineering and working as an emergency medical technician, Pula chose nursing. He spent time in a hospital watching the physicians and nurses, noting that "the nurses were there constantly with the patient" and that the physician has limited interaction with patients. "Until you actually experience it, you can't know what nursing is," he said.

UNDERSTANDING THE OR

After the breakfast, students were invited to attend a seven-hour session titled "Understanding the OR." In addition to students, several new nurses chose to attend the session because they were not taught all of the necessary basic principles of perioperative nursing. The session consisted of a didactic portion, an assignment on the exhibit floor, and a hands-on session.

Kathy Gaberson, RN, PhD, CNOR, addressed aseptic technique. She discussed definitions of terms, associated AORN recommended practices, principles of aseptic technique, and establishing and maintaining a sterile field. In explaining how to scratch an itch after gowning and gloving, Dr Gaberson told students to ask a coworker to scratch their itch. "That's how you make friends in the operating room," she said, drawing laughter from attendees.

The topic of gowning and gloving was presented by Patricia Mews, RN, MHA, CNOR. She discussed surgical hand scrubs, donning gowns and gloves, and removing gowns and gloves. With the assistance of a fellow nurse, Mews showed attendees proper technique for donning. In discussing scrubbing, she asked students what they should do with the towel after drying their hands. Mews encouraged them to throw it in the trash but said if a trash can is not close by to drop the towel on the floor. She told students if they had to move too far, they probably would contaminate everything, saying, "The first day you are in that operating room, you are so scared."

Kathryn Schroeter, RN, MS, MA, CNOR, presented prepping and draping, discussing the rationale for skin prep, principles of skin prep, antimicrobial agents, and standards. In talking about shaving patients before surgery, Schroeter, mimicking a freshly shaved prep site, said, "Hey, nice area coming for infection here." After hearing Schroeter's presentation, one student said, "I wish we had this before clinicals. It would have helped so much."

Sterilization was presented by Rick Barber, RN, MS, CNOR. He defined the term sterilization and discussed methods of sterilization, disinfection, and event-related sterility. "Whatever is part of the patient is part of the patient, and we don't want to introduce anything more," he said.

Debra Fawcett, RN, BSN, MS, talked about professionalism. "As a nursing student, the future of nursing is in your hands," she told attendees. Items of discussion included being a patient advocate, professional behavior, and the need to be a member of a professional organization.

Students were given an assignment to visit the exhibit floor and learn about two products. Two students visited a booth where they learned about different types of hand scrub products and tested them. Cantrell said, "Some [exhibitors] are really informative and will really explain everything."