Educational Opportunities
Registration now open! Learn about the latest research, best practices, and innovative ideas coming out of the surgical suite at AORN ’s annual educational conference. This premier event offers a robust program with expert speakers, hands-on training, and hundreds of contact hours. Learning will extend beyond the classroom to the exhibit hall, which will have the latest perioperative trends, surgical products, and technologies. Plus, hear from poster presenters about breakthrough ideas, actions, and evidence-based research affecting perioperative nursing. (Source: AORN Journal)
Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: Column Source Type: research
Back to Basics: Environmental Cleaning Hazards
Perioperative personnel must clean and disinfect the perioperative environment numerous times throughout the day to help prevent the risk of exposing patients to pathogenic microorganisms. However, this practice exposes perioperative team members to chemicals that could be harmful to their health. Exposure to cleaning and disinfecting products has been associated with potential health problems such as skin irritation, burns, rashes, and difficulty breathing. This Back to Basics article offers strategies for perioperative team members to implement to decrease their risk of ha rmful exposure to these products. (Source: AORN Journal)
Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Lisa Spruce Tags: Featured article Source Type: research
Local Anesthetic Systemic Toxicity
Local anesthetics are commonly used in the perioperative environment to facilitate surgical procedures or to provide postoperative pain management for patients. The use of local anesthetics, however, introduces the risk of complications resulting from local anesthetic systemic toxicity and the risks of increased morbidity and mortality for the surgical patient. Systemic toxicity from the injection or overdose of local anesthetics is a rare but potentially fatal complication that occurs in less than 1 in 1,000 patients. (Source: AORN Journal)
Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Diana L. Wadlund Tags: Featured article Source Type: research
Temporary Perioperative Tobacco Cessation: A Literature Review
We examined the literature from June 1989 to July 2017 regarding various tobacco cessation time frames for perioperative patients, searching MEDLINE, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), the Cochrane Collaboration, and various online-only journals accessed through Google Scholar. (Source: AORN Journal)
Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Carol A. Devlin, Suzanne C. Smeltzer Tags: Featured article Source Type: research
Translating Evidence Into Practice: How Advanced Practice RNs Can Guide Nurses in Challenging Established Practice to Arrive at Best Practice
Nursing is an information-intensive profession, requiring nurses to have high information literacy and the skills to find, understand, evaluate, and use information from a multitude of sources. The advanced practice RN (APRN) is a valuable resource to support and guide nurses in this effort. The APRN ’s skills encompass understanding and implementing evidence-based practice, evaluating the organizational structure (eg, units, facilities, multisystem organizations) across the continuum of care, and facilitating collaboration between perioperative nurses and other interprofessional team members to sustain practice changes ...
Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Jennifer L. Fencl, Candace Matthews Tags: Featured article Source Type: research
Epilepsy: Clinical Review and Surgical Options
Epilepsy is the fourth leading neurologic disorder in the United States and affects the quality of life of approximately 2.9 million Americans. Despite modern progress in medicine and technology, the disease may prove to be drug resistant, a condition that serves as a primary indication to consider invasive treatment modalities. Current evidence supports the efficacy of early surgical intervention for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, although this approach continues to be underused. The positive outcomes of epilepsy surgery are a result of multidisciplinary efforts, and perioperative nurses play a vital role in th...
Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Beth Karasin, Mark Karasin Tags: Featured article Source Type: research
Clinical Issues —November 2017
Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems in the ORKey words: airborne contaminants, HVAC system, air pressure, air quality, temperature and humidity.Air changes and positive pressureKey words: air changes, positive pressure airflow, unidirectional airflow, outdoor air, recirculated air.Product selectionKey word: product evaluation, product selection, selection committee.Entry into practiceKey words: associate degree in nursing, bachelor of science in nursing, entry-level position, advanced education, BSN-prepared RNs. (Source: AORN Journal)
Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Esther M. Johnstone Tags: Column Source Type: research
The Future of Certification: Beyond Contact Hours
As the complexity of health care increases, employers and health care providers strive to demonstrate competent practice that will result in safe, efficient, equitable, timely, and patient-focused care to an increasingly savvy consumer public.1 To address this change in expectations, competency validation through certification and its traditional method of renewal through the accrual of contact hours is being expanded to include other measures of evaluating competent practice. (Source: AORN Journal)
Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Juliana Mower Tags: Column Source Type: research
Enhancing Pediatric Perioperative Patient Safety
The frequency of surgery for patients younger than 18 years of age is increasing, and pediatric procedures are being performed in all types of facilities.1 Approximately 450,000 pediatric patients are admitted for inpatient surgery on an annual basis in the United States, with 115,000 of those procedures occurring in patients who are three years old or younger.2 It is estimated that 40% of pediatric inpatient surgical procedures are performed in nonpediatric hospitals in the United States.1 In 2006, an estimated 2.3 million ambulatory anesthesia episodes of care were provided to patients younger than 15 years of age in the...
Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Quinn Johnson, Janette McVey Tags: Column Source Type: research
Embrace Action: Celebrate Perioperative Nurse Week and Thanksgiving
For many, autumn entails the beginning of school, football games, fall colors, and many personal celebrations and events. Two of the events we can celebrate this month are Perioperative Nurse Week (PNW) and Thanksgiving. Although the former is a professional celebration and the latter is more of a family celebration, both are recognized by communities across the nation. These celebrations have the common focus of group recognition and an acknowledgment of gratitude. The tribute to perioperative nurses creates the opportunity to share with the community the value brought to health care by this group of nurses. (Source: AORN Journal)
Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Nathalie Walker Tags: Column Source Type: research
Evidence appraisal of Yuwen P, Chen W, Lv H, et al. Albumin and surgical site infection risk in orthopaedics: a meta-analysis.
Editor ’s note: Reading research and incorporating valid research results into practice is a vital part of ensuring that perioperative nursing practice is evidence based. The AORN Research Evidence Appraisal Tools can help perioperative nurses evaluate research. There are three tools for evaluation of th e different types of evidence: the Research Evidence Appraisal Tool–Study, the Research Evidence Appraisal Tool–Summary, and the Non-Research Evidence Appraisal Tool. These tools are used to evaluate the evidence upon which AORN’s guidelines are based. (Source: AORN Journal)
Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: George Allen Tags: Column Source Type: research
Table of Contents
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Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Source Type: research
Editorial Board
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Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Source Type: research
Information for Readers
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Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Source Type: research
Guideline at a Glance: Positioning
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Source: AORN Journal - October 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: Guideline at a glance Source Type: research
