Board of Directors reviews reports, approves agenda - Board Report

AORN Journal, Jan, 2004 by McNamara Sharon A.

The AORN Board Directors met at 3M Headquarters in St Paul, Minn, Nov 13-15, 2003. All Board members were president, as were Executive Director Tom Cooper, CAE, and members of the executive team. This was the second year the Board held a meeting away from Denver to take advantage of partnering opportunities. Representatives of 3M provided the AORN Board and Headquarters executive team members with a tour of their facility, and Jim McNerney, 3M's chief executive officer, spoke with AORN's leadership team members about leadership development.

AUDITORS' REPORT

The Board was presented with the June 30, 2003, year-end auditors report from Ehrhardt, Keefe, Steiner, and Hottman, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants. Going forward there will be a short-term audit from July 1 to Dec 31, 2003, with annual audits in December thereafter. This is to accommodate changing the fiscal year to the calendar year, which was approved by the 2003 House of Delegates.

CONSENT AGENDA

The items on the consent agenda that were approved include

* the July 24 to 25, 2003, Board of Directors meeting minutes;

* the Aug 21, 2003, Board conference call minutes;

* ratification of Presidential and Board actions between meetings;

* ratification of the Foundation Board of Trustees' membership;

* the proposed AORN Position Statement on Patient Safety (see page 70);

* the Primer for Perioperative Education;

* authorized signers for the AORN 401(K) pension Board resolutions;

* Certification Board Perioperative Nursing sponsorship;

* renewal of the agreement with MBNA Corp; and

* Policy Committee recommendations regarding the Executive Director, Board laptops, and member status policies.

The newly elected Foundation Board Trustees are Melanie Barstad, president of acute care, Johnson & Johnson; Ken Donlon, vice president of distributor service, The Kendall Co/Tyco Healthcare; Nick Mendez, vice president OM specialists, Owens and Minor, Inc; Jane Rothrock, RN, MSN, DNSc, CNOR, FAAN, professor of nursing, Delaware Community College; and Bob Von Kaenel, vice president marketing and business development, Getinge USA. The member status policies encoded the accepted definition of the practice of chapter member.

LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES

The following motions made by the Legislative Committee were approved.

* Board members approved a revised version of the AORN Lobbyist Protocol requiring that the final request for a lobbyist be reviewed and approved by a group that includes Legislative Committee members; AORN's President, President-elect, Vice President, Treasurer; the Legislative Committee liaison; and a staff member from AORN's Government Affairs Department.

* The Proactive Legislative and Regulatory Initiative was approved to ensure there is an KN as the circulator in the OR for each patient undergoing surgery or other invasive procedure in all 50 states.

* The revised AORN Statement of Legislative Priorities was approved to include KEYS to patient safety:

* Keep the RN in the OR,

* Enforce and protect scope of practice,

* Yes in favor of collaboration,

* State and federal legislation for RN first assistant (RNFA) reimbursement and emerging issues.

The December issue of AORN Connections has more information on this program.

CONFERENCES

The Board also approved some global opportunities. For example, the 2005 World Conference will be held in Barcelona, Spain, and AORN will hold a Latin American/ South American conference in 2004.

A motion to change from the current model of two large multispecialty conferences to four smaller conferences with a targeted number of attendees also was approved. This decision was precipitated by feedback from members highlighting growing difficulty in obtaining time off to attend conferences. In addition, the ability to accommodate growing specialty assembly needs, finding methods to focus on themes that highlight areas of practice ill addition to specialty areas, expanding geographic areas to reach more members, and declining attendance were grounds for investigation, presentation, and acceptance of the new four-conference model. The December issue of AORN Connections has more information on this program.

FORUM AND HOUSE OF DELEGATES BUSINESS

Several recommendations were approved and placed on the 2004 Forum and House of Delegates agenda (see page 68). Board members approved bringing two Member-at-Large and eChapter Task Force recommendations concerning qualifications for member-at-large status to the House of Delegates for consideration. The Board also voted to disband this task force and thanked the task force for their work. The proposed revised AORN Statement on RNFAs was approved to be taken to the House of Delegates with editorial changes as amended and discussed by the Board. The proposed AORN Position Statement on Patient Safety also will be brought before the House of Delegates at Congress.

AORN BUDGET

Board members approved the 2004 Budget for AORN, Association Technology Solutions, the AORN Foundation, and Management Solutions, Inc. The AORN Board of Directors will meet again Feb 5-7, 2004, in Denver. Suggested agenda items should be sent to President Betty J. Shultz, RN, CNOR, at AORN Headquarters, 2170 S Parker Road, Suite 300, Denveb CO 80231-5711.