AORN to Prepare Perioperative Nurses for Executive Roles in Healthcare Management

The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) has accelerated development of its education initiatives for perioperative nurse executives in response to the Institute of Medicines Future of Nursing report. The report, released in 2011, has spurred the Association to create resources specific to nurses ability to practice to the full extent of their education and training. In response to report recommendations, the AORN Center for Nursing Leadership will present its first OR Executive Summit in Chicago, March 30 through April 1, 2014.

Linda Groah, MSN, RN, CNOR, NEA-BC, FAAN, CEO and executive director of AORN, notes, Perioperative nurses are frustrated with a lack of executive-oriented resources that facilitate their knowledge of evidence based administrative practice to effectively manage the perioperative services. After nursing education and years of hands-on experience in the surgical setting, they are incredibly knowledgeable about the clinical aspects of patient and healthcare worker safety. But there are education gaps in their administrative responsibilities so the Summit is designed to fill in those areas and prepare them for executive roles."

The OR Executive Summit will provide executive-oriented sessions on succession planning, financial management, including reimbursements and charge structures, and the use of time and supplies as components of value-based purchasing. Process improvement as it relates to surgical site infections (SSIs) and the reduction of costs through clinical redesign are also on the schedule which runs concurrent to the AORN 2014 Surgical Conference & Expo (formerly known as AORN Congress) in Chicago.

An additional recommendation of the IOM report, that nurses become full partners with physicians and other health professionals in redesigning healthcare in the United States, is addressed in the Summits session on Lean improvements to fuel innovation in the OR. This session and others address collaboration and teamwork as critical skills for becoming successful as perioperative nurse executives.

In addition to the OR Executive Summit, the AORN Center for Nursing Leadership presents a nurse executive webinar series with topics upcoming on Building Leadership Influence through DiSC and Managing Difficult People and Personality Types. There also is the Nurse Executive Leadership Series , a one-day educational event to be presented in 10 cities across the U.S. in the fall of 2013 with new content planned for 2014.

Source: AORN