To the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses:

We at the American Nurses Association are delighted to recognize our friends and colleagues at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses in a new ground-breaking relationship as members of ANA. 

I say this in my capacity both as president of ANA and as a long-standing perioperative nurse and a member of AORN. 

I believe that we as individual nurses, the nursing profession as a whole, and the public we serve will benefit from the opportunities this partnership brings to both organizations. 

I do enjoy working for the nursing profession at the abstract issues level, but I also love the direct, hands-on experience of nursing, which I associate with my AORN membership.  I have always valued AORN’s commitment to improving practice and addressing the work environment.

ANA deeply shares that commitment and our organizational partnership will enable us to accomplish more in the work place for the safety of both nurses and our patients.

I’d like to mention a few of the ways in which we are already working to improve conditions for nurses:

At the forefront of ANA’s agenda today is the issue of safe staffing. Evidence strongly supports associations between adequate nurse staffing levels and positive patient outcomes.  That is why we say (to cite our national campaign), “Safe Staffing Saves Lives.”  ANA is committed to supporting AORN’s position to ensure that a registered nurse is present in each OR for the duration of the surgical procedure in the role of the circulating nurse. 

As I know you appreciate, nurses are crucial to making the case that safe staffing promotes patient safety and quality care in hospital settings.  Here, and on so many other issues, our organizational partnership strengthens our ability to make our case.

Our “Handle With Care” campaign addresses another issue that directly affects nurses. In an eight-hour shift, the average nurse has to lift the equivalent of almost two tons.  Small wonder, then, that more than a third of all nursing personnel suffer back-related injuries.

Handle With Care promotes safe patient handling and the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders among nurses.  Our campaign also promotes the passage of safe patient handling legislation. As of last summer, I am proud to report that seven states have passed such laws.

ANA has also been a vocal advocate for needle safety, which is a critical issue for both nurses and patients.  ANA supported and celebrated the passage of needlestick prevention legislation in the U.S. Congress. This legislation amended existing federal standards to require the use of safer devices to prevent needlestick or sharps injuries. 

We are working to improve the nurse’s work setting in so many ways that it’s hard to list them all, but they include:

• Halting the practice of mandatory overtime for nurses
• Eliminating dangerous chemicals in the workplace
• Promoting more beneficial workplace design

Always, we are working to magnify the voice of the nurse in the care setting, so that our views are clearly heard and fully considered in all decisions that affect our practice.

I am thrilled at the prospect of AORN and ANA having the opportunity to work together more closely on these issues.

And I am delighted that AORN members now may avail themselves of a wide range of rich benefits from their ANA membership.  These benefits include access to ANA journals, archives, and numerous other resources. As well as online continuing education opportunities at little or no cost, access to ANA’s NurseSpace social networking site, and many more.

The partnership between AORN and ANA marks the beginning of a bright new phase for all of us.  To our new ANA members from AORN, I say: Welcome, and good health.

Sincerely,

Rebecca M. Patton, MSN, RN, CNOR
President, American Nurses Association