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The presidency in review - President's Message

AORN Journal, March, 2004 by Betty J. Shultz

As I write my last President's message, it is time again to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as the President of AORN. It has been a year that I will never forget, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to serve you. AORN accomplished many goals this year because of your participation, the excellent staff members at AORN Headquarters and a Board of Directors that is dedicated to you and our Association.

ACHIEVING GOALS

Last year at Congress, I laid out the goals to be focused on for the year. I am happy to say that we accomplished many of these goals and a lot more. For example, the Board of Directors developed the following strategic objectives for AORN.

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* AORN will be an indispensable resource for the perioperative nursing profession.

* AORN will be the recognized leader of the perioperative nursing profession.

* AORN will have strong, mutually supportive connections with its grassroots members.

* AORN will partner with other perioperative associations and industry to achieve our goals.

We also incorporated four questions for knowledge-based decision making into all Board decisions.

* What do we know about the current realities and evolving dynamics of our organization's environment that are relevant to this decision?

* What do we know about the capacity and strategic position of our organization that are relevant to this decision?

* What do we know about our stockholders' needs, wants, and preferences that are relevant to this decision?

* What are the ethical implications of our choices?

Naturally, the members of AORN have been our top priority. The Board chapter visit program has been a huge success. This year, the program was expanded to include state councils, and a total of 32 visits have been made to date. Since the start of the program, we have visited 89 chapters and state councils, and 10 more visits are scheduled to take place this spring. These numbers do not include chapter visits that were set up by chapters requesting a visit from an individual member of the Board.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEMBERS

AORN continues to work to meet member needs through our specialty assemblies. I asked that two new assemblies be created, one for retired nurses and one for members in the military. As I write this in January, these specialty assemblies are in the process of being formed, along with several others. I hope we will be able to announce their approved formation before or during Congress 2004. All of our specialty assemblies will conduct networking groups at Congress. I am pleased to say that an Integrated Health Practices Specialty Assembly was formed in July 2003.

In addition, based on members' input, AORN will hold four multispecialty meetings during 2004 instead of two. These meetings will be held in four different areas of the country to better meet members' needs by bringing AORN education programs closer to individual members.

AORN also developed the AORN Communities web site template for chapters, specialty assemblies, and state councils to help these member groups develop and maintain web sites to communicate with their constituencies and disseminate information. More than 50 member groups already are using this template for their web sites.

New communication resources were implemented for members to report their concerns about the service they receive from AORN. These resources include a new e-mail address (ie, http://www.betterservice@AORN.org); a new toll-free hotline; and a postcard bound into each issue of the AORN Journal for which responses are routed to senior staff members for immediate follow-up. AORN also responded to direct feedback from its members and extended its switchboard and customer service hours from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM MST.

Although the Board voted to discontinue SSM--Surgical Services Management, new resources for perioperative leaders and managers currently are being developed and will be available to AORN members soon. Information regarding these resources will be provided at Congress and in future AORN publications.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

A new member benefit program offering educational loans through the Wells Fargo Capital for Knowledge program has been introduced by AORN. In addition to education financing, Wells Fargo offers free online education resources, including scholarships and college search engines. AORN and the University of Colorado Health Science Center School of Nursing, Denver, also are offering preferred tuition rates for an online RN to bachelor of science degree program for AORN members.

The AORN Foundation provided scholarships to a two-person AORN member team that included a perioperative and a materials manager, so they could attend the Georgetown University Healthcare Leadership Institute. The Foundation also is providing grants and scholarships to our members for a variety of educational opportunities.

AORN also completed a Student Resource Kit members can use when talking to schools of nursing and high school and middle school students. The kit includes a PowerPoint presentation that can be used when talking to students about perioperative nursing as a career. In addition, a new chapter award for promoting perioperative nursing at the high school level will be given at Congress this year. This award is designed to encourage grassroots efforts to attract high school student to careers in perioperative nursing.

Health Care Industry

The presidency in review - President's Message

AORN Journal, March, 2004 by Betty J. Shultz

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