IN FOCUS
The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF) just named an AORN nurse to its board of directors.
Bonnie Denholm, RN, MS, CNOR, a perioperative nursing specialist in AORN's Center for Nursing Practice, was recently elected to the AAAASF's board, becoming one of the first non-physicians to take on that role.
Bonnie Denholm
"Being one of two nurses on their board will give us the ability to spotlight the relationship between AORN's Recommended Practices and the AAAASF standards while also conveying perioperative nursing perspectives," Denholm said.
The AAAASF previously had only physicians on its board of directors. Three non-physician board positions were added this year. While AORN staff and board members have worked with AAAASF in the past, Denholm is the first to be elected to its board and have full voting privileges within that group.
"Bonnie and the other new members of our board, ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists), AANA (American Association of Nurse Anesthetists), and other medical specialties bring a different and meaningful perspective to our proceedings and help the board to better deal with issues of patient safety in the various medical specialties we now accredit," said Lawrence S. Reed, MD, new president of the AAAASF board.
Denholm said she hopes as a board member to encourage participation from office-based surgery team members to participate in public review and comment of AORN's Recommended Practices. Other areas of focus for Denholm during her tenure as AAAASF board member will be to promote the role of the RN as circulator, to serve as a consultant to the AAAASF board for AORN's recommended practices, and to gain insight about trends in office-based surgery settings.
The AAAASF has existed since 1980, and is the largest accrediting agency for office-based surgical facilities, having accredited more than 1,200 facilities nationwide. For more information on AAAASF visit www.aaaasf.org.
For more on Denholm's role with the AAAASF, read the November issue of AORN Management Connections.
American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Inc.
Source: www.aaaasf.org |
Read more news in AORN Connections.