AORN Position Statement on
| Patient Safety |
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Perioperative patients experience vulnerabilities including diminished or absent pain defenses and inability to communicate or make personal care decisions. In addition, their interrupted defense mechanisms during invasive procedures demand that patient safety be valued as the fundamental priority even at the expense of productivity. The perioperative setting is one of the most potentially hazardous of all clinical environments. These hazards may have an adverse effect on patient outcomes including the potential for infection; hemorrhage; nerve injury; burns; wrong patient, surgery, or site; or death. Inadvertent adverse events may occur from a variety of energy sources, chemicals, biologicals, equipment, and devices, as well as numerous supplies and instruments that comprise the surgical armamentarium.
Safe management of the patient’s care; technical sources; and human factors (eg, communication, institutional culture, staffing patterns) serve as the vital components to create a safe, team-based perioperative environment. Perioperative nurses use the Perioperative Nursing Data Set (PNDS) to describe patient care interventions and actions taken to protect the patient and promote positive patient outcomes and the resources required to accomplish the expected outcomes.1 The safety of patients undergoing operative or other invasive procedures is the primary responsibility of the
perioperative registered nurse.
- insufficient orientation and training,
- patient characteristics requiring unusual setup or requirements, and
- failure to include the patient and family members in assessment and decision making.9
POSITION STATEMENT
AORN believes that it is the right of every patient to receive the highest quality of care in all surgical/procedural settings and that all health care providers must collaboratively strive to create an environment of patient safety. Every patient scheduled for a surgical or invasive procedure deserves to have a registered nurse throughout the continuum of perioperative care, including a registered nurse in the role of circulator.2,3 The perioperative registered nurse forms a professional bond with the patient through patient advocacy.4 The patient-nurse bond is further strengthened through nursing interventions that promote optimal surgical and procedural outcomes. The patient’s physical and emotional
needs are entrusted to the perioperative registered nurse by the patient and his or her family members, who also believe that the care provided will be safely and effectively delivered by the entire health care team.
AORN is committed to promoting patient safety by advancing the profession through scholarly inquiry to identify, verify, and expand the body of perioperative nursing knowledge. AORN accepts the responsibility and accountability as a leader in patient safety dedicated to reducing error, educating health care providers and patients about safe practices, and creating innovative and collaborative strategies to strengthen the culture of safety.
References
1. Beyea S, ed. Perioperative Nursing Data Set. 2nd ed. Denver, Colo: AORN, Inc; 2002:vii.
2. Statement on mandate for the registered professional nurse in the perioperative practice setting. In:
Standards, Recommended Practices, and Guidelines. Denver, Colo: AORN, Inc; 2006:362.
3. Position statement on one perioperative registered nurse circulator dedicated to every patient undergoing a
surgical or other invasive procedure. AORN. Available at: http://www.aorn.org/about/positions/pdf/POS-Nurse. Accessed June 21, 2006
4. Standards of perioperative professional practice. In: Standards, Recommended Practices, and Guidelines.
Denver, Colo: AORN, Inc; 2006:401-404.
Original approved by the House of Delegates, San Diego, March 2004
Revision; approved by the House of Delegates, March 2007
Sunset review: March 2012