Establishing ties

AORN Journal, Oct, 2000 by Brenda C. Ulmer

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Antione de Saint-Exupery. Exupery was a French aviator and writer whose most famous book was a children's fable for adults. The Little Prince, written in 1943, is a lovely example of the realization of what is important in life.

The narrator of the story is a pilot who has crash-landed in the desert. He meets the Little Prince, who tells of his travels through the universe and the discoveries he makes along the way. When the Little Prince lands on the planet Earth, he sits crying in the grass. A fox appears to the Little Prince, and the Prince asks, "Who are you?" "I am a fox," the fox replies. The Little Prince then asks the fox to play with him because he is lonely. The fox states that he cannot play with the Little Prince because he is not tamed. Surprised, the Little Prince wants to know what it means to tame something.

   "It means to establish ties," says the fox. "To me, you are still nothing
   more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little
   boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me.
   To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes.
   But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be
   unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world ... one
   only understands the things that one tames." So the Little Prince tamed the
   fox, he made the fox his friend and he was unique in all the world. When it
   came time for the fox to say goodbye, he made a present to the Little
   Prince of a secret. The secret was a very simple secret: "It is only with
   the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the
   eye."(1)

I often have read The Little Prince over the years because it points out anew that establishing ties (ie, partnerships) is an essential part of personal and professional life. The value of those essential partnerships often is invisible to the eye.

In 1997, AORN President Linda K. Groah, RN, MS, CNOR, CNAA, wrote,

   "Forming partnerships and strategic alliances, networking, and obtaining
   education are key elements in designing a preferred future for
   perioperative nursing."(2)

Never have those prophetic words been truer than they are today. AORN has worked continuously and consistently to establish ties and form partnerships and alliances that will benefit perioperative nurses and the patients they serve. In recent years, the Association has begun to reach outside traditional nursing and surgical circles in an attempt to expand its sphere of influence.

AORN ALLIANCES

A very important strategic alliance for AORN was formed in June this year at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA). AORN was granted official observer status with the AMA. We are the first specialty nursing organization to gain this status and only the second nursing organization--the American Nurses Association (ANA) also is an official observer. As an official observer, we may attend all meetings of the AMA house of delegates and speak at the AMA house, but we do not have a vote. There are only 17 other organizations that are official AMA observers, including the American Hospital Association.

Founded more than 150 years ago, AMA's mission is to serve as the voice of the American medical profession. The house of delegates meets twice each year and is composed of nearly 500 voting delegates selected from among medical students; residents; young physicians; medical staff members; the Army, Navy, and Air Force Veterans Administration; the public health service; states and territories; and national specialty organizations.

During the hearing to discuss AORN's request for official observer status, three physicians spoke in favor of AORN being granted observer status. They included D. Ted Lewers, MD, of the AMA board of trustees; Chad Rubin, MD, from the American College of Surgeons; and Keith DeSonier, MD, from Louisiana, a friend of AORN and perioperative nursing.

The partnership with AMA will benefit both AORN and AMA. The report filed in consideration of AORN as an official observer stated, "... an AORN representative would contribute to the depth and breath of deliberations of the [AMA] house of delegates."(3)

I was talking with a surgeon from Georgia on the final day of the meeting about the June 14 JAMA article on the nursing shortage.(4) She said that AORN and AMA had to work together to find a solution to the shortage because she would not want to work in an OR without RNs. This surgeon realizes, as we realize, that perioperative nurses are essential to positive patient outcomes.

OUR OTHER PARTNERSHIPS

AORN has other longstanding partners outside nursing circles. The Association interacts with the American College of Surgeons (ACS) on areas of common interest. The ACS was founded in 1913 and currently has more than 56,000 members who, like AORN members, work to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient. AORN sends a representative to the ACS Committee on Operating Room Environment (CORE). Current CORE initiatives include prevention of surgical site infection and a statement on health care industry representatives in the OR.(5) AORN also participates with the ACS every two years in a symposium that addresses important issues related to patient care in the OR.