Opportunities from the center for perioperative education

AORN Journal, March, 2007

PERIOPERATIVE NURSING COURSE 101

AORN's Perioperative Nursing Course 101 is a comprehensive program for educating new perioperative nurses. The curriculum covers 27 crucial topics in a scripted lecture format with PowerPoint presentations and is designed to be integrated with your facility's specific policies and procedures.

Perioperative Nursing Course 101 will help you develop confident, better-educated, safety-conscious, novice perioperative nurses. The course includes overviews, reading assignments, glossaries, bibliographies, posttests, preceptor guidelines, handouts, slide presentations, a critical skills assessment checklist, a "Preparing the Preceptor" module with free continuing education contact hours, and more. For more information, visit AORN Online at http:// www.aorn.org/education/periop101.htm. For a free information packet, contact Laurie Clark at (800) 755-2676 x 258, or send an e-mail to periop101@aorn.org.

DISTANCE LEARNING

Ambulatory Surgery Administrator Certificate program. This program begins May 19 and 20 with a face-to-face meeting at the Adams Mark Hotel, Denver, Colo. During the two-day meeting, attendees will review

* privacy and unique identifiers;

* regulatory issues;

* security rules, transactions, and code sets;

* credentialing details; and much more.

After the meeting, 11 online courses will cover such topics as

* leadership and management,

* medical records management,

* anesthesia services, and

* risk management.

This program will provide 52 continuing education contact hours and ambulatory education unit credits. The deadline for completing the program is Sept 30, 2007. For more information or to register, visit http://www.aorn.org/events/ambadmincert, or call customer service at (800) 755-2676 x 1.

Management courses. The following online courses offer continuing education contact hours and may be taken by themselves or used with AORN's Perioperative Management Resources seminars and manuals for more in-depth understanding. In Budgeting, you will learn

* basic cost accounting,

* essential steps in the budgeting process,

* components of capital and operating budgets, and

* steps to improve budget performance while providing safe patient care.

After completing Understanding and Interpreting Financial Statements, you will be able to

* describe the key components of a financial statement,

* identify ways to use statistical data to improve day-to-day operational efficiency,

* describe the types of statistical data used to support budget development,

* discuss two types of statistical reports that nurse managers can use to evaluate purchasing decisions,

* demonstrate the proper use of various statistical techniques,

* define the importance of personnel budgeting, and

* use statistical data to support program development or maintenance.

The Meeting Management course will provide you with practical guidelines for planning and conducting effective and productive meetings. After completing the course, you will be able to

* state two vital purposes for meetings,

* identify rationales for choosing a particular meeting type,

* demonstrate how a meeting agenda outlines the purpose or direction of a meeting,

* identify several types of meeting processes,

* identify ways to facilitate positive group interaction,

* identify logical components of a meeting, and

* identify tools to evaluate a meeting's effectiveness.

The Performance Improvement (PI) course provides a basic knowledge of PI activities that will allow you to meet regulatory requirements by analyzing performance gaps, planning and developing interventions for PI activities, and evaluating the results of these improvements. After completing the course, you will be able to

* list the objectives of a PI program,

* discuss different PI plans that can be used, and

* develop a PI plan to address a specific need.

For more information or to register for any of these courses, call customer service at (800) 755-2676 x 1, or visit http://www.aorn.org/managers/online.asp.> Fire safety. The online fire safety course Preventing Surgical Fires will expand your knowledge of the mechanisms of and the nurse's role in surgical fire prevention. After completing the course, you will be able to

* identify fire triangle components that are prevalent in the perioperative environment,

* describe prevention measures that a nurse must take for every surgical procedure, and

* discuss actions to be taken when a fire occurs on a surgical patient.

For more information or to register, call customer service at (800) 755-2676 x 1, or visit http://www.aorn.org/events/fire prevention/default.asp.

Preparing for the CNOR Examination--online course. This program will alleviate participants' fears of taking the CNOR examination by walking them through the examination's format. Subjects are related to clinical situations with which perioperative nurses are familiar. The program also provides effective test-taking strategies. Participants have three months from the time of registration to complete the self-paced, online program. Visit AORN Online at http://www.aorn.org/events/cnoronline/default.asp for more information.