A vision and a promise

AORN Journal, May, 2004 by William J. Duffy

Colleagues, on March 25, 2004, a transition occurred. I am not talking about the transition from one AORN leader to the next. I am talking about a transition that occurred inside of me. It always has been my role in AORN to advocate for a constituency, but the moment I became your President, that changed. Now I advocate for the entire Association and not just a segment of it. No matter where you work or how you interact with AORN, it is my job to make sure that your voice and views are heard and considered by AORN's Board of Directors.

This transition did not occur overnight. It started the moment I joined AORN. During the years, many of you have helped me develop my leadership skills. Every time I visited a chapter, I watched and listened to your celebrations and your challenges. I took these insights and a piece of your passion for AORN and blended them with my own. Each of these encounters became a part of me, and to this day, they influence my perceptions of who we are as perioperative nurses and where we are going. It is clear to me that your mentoring has helped me develop into the leader that I am today. I want you to know that this is your Presidency because a part of you is with me and guiding me in my service to you.

PEOPLE TO THANK

In every process, there are a special few who stand out for their help. First and, most importantly, is my wife, Chic, who has been my friend, mentor, and colleague for almost 20 years. She convinced me to share my talents with our local AORN chapter, and she keeps me anchored to the needs of the clinical nurse at the patient's side. In our household, clinical caregivers are the heart and soul of our profession, and Chic will not let me stray far from focusing on that aspect of perioperative practice. I also want to recognize my wife's efforts at holding down the fort while I am serving you. She juggles my schedule, as well as our children's and her own schedule, while maintaining her professional practice.

I also am grounded in reality by my three wonderful daughters, Katie, Patty, and Becky, who make Chic and me proud every day. They are scholars and athletes who keep us young through their mentoring about the joys and challenges that are a part of different generational perspectives. To paraphrase Bette Midler, Chic and my children are the wind beneath my wings.

I also would like to acknowledge my colleagues at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Evanston, Ill. It is an honor to practice with such a committed group of professionals, especially Christine Bloomfield, RN, MSN, CNOR; Annette Dopp, RN, BSN, CNOR; and Kate O'Toole, RN, BS, BSN, CNOR. These colleagues are my trusted advisors who make their personal vision of perioperative nursing a reality. I especially want to acknowledge Annette and Christine for keeping things moving forward at work while Kate and I are away serving you. I am blessed to practice with such wonderful leaders whose commitment to perioperative nursing, AORN, and me allow me to continue to practice my profession while I serve my profession. In addition, I want to recognize all my colleagues from Chicago and Illinois. I cannot put into words the feelings I have for the support and respect you have provided me over the years.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the AORN past Presidents I have served with, because each of them provided me with insights I can use in my service to you. For example, past President Patricia Seifert, RN, MSN, CNOR, CRNFA, FAAN, taught me about the art of chess and planning multiple moves to be able to achieve an objective. Past President Sheila L. Allen, RN, BSN, CNOR, CRNFA, taught me about keeping a positive attitude no matter how big or difficult the problem seems. Past President Donna S. Watson, RN, MSN, CNOR, ARNP, FNP-C, taught me about sticking to your beliefs despite contrarian views, and past President Betty Shultz, RN, CNOR, taught me about the benefit of collaboration with outside groups to achieve inside objectives.

Most importantly, however, I want to recognize past President Brenda C. Ulmer, RN, MN, CNOR. I don't think many of you know about the challenges AORN faced during Brenda's term, but she led us through these challenges, especially the change in leadership at Headquarters, with such grace and dignity that she made an everlasting impression on me. I know that if I serve you with half the grace and dignity Brenda did, I will have served you well.

AN INDISPENSABLE RESOURCE

I believe that one of the major issues facing perioperative nursing is repeated efforts to turn what we do from practicing a profession into performing a job. I believe that a major factor in this effort is that many of our colleagues are in situations where they receive little support to maintain a professional practice and little recognition of the value they bring to their practice. Their daily life is so filled with pressure to be more efficient and control costs that they are assimilating that way of thinking. It appears they slowly are losing perspective about what we do as perioperative nurses and the value we bring. This battle for the heart and soul of our profession is taking place in thousands of ORs across the country on a daily basis. As leaders in our profession, I believe we need to help our colleagues in this struggle and truly become an indispensable resource for perioperative nurses.