Celebrating Perioperative Nurses and Their Role in Advocating for Patients and the Profession

Perioperative Nurses Week, which falls on November 9-15 this year, is a time for perioperative nurses to celebrate and recognize the clinical excellence, advocacy, dedication, and compassion we bring to every perioperative patient. Globally, we are advocates at the bedside and in our communities, boardrooms, and legislative spaces. This is our week to celebrate the essential role we play for patients and for each other. Not only is this week about expressing gratitude for what we do; it is indeed about honoring who we are! Appreciation cannot end with words alone, however. True recognition comes through advocacy, or the collective work of perioperative nurses and the individual commitment we each make to build safer, more supportive environments for our patients and colleagues.

Patient Care

Perioperative nurses combine evidence-based practice with human caring, ensuring that every patient is treated with compassion and dignity. Perioperative nurses are at the heart of keeping patients and each other safe throughout the perioperative care continuum. Whether serving in the role of RN circulator, RN surgical scrub nurse, RN first assistant, nursing faculty, nurse scientist, nurse consultant, perioperative leader, or perioperative educator, each of you exemplifies excellence and expertise in advocating for patients and safe patient care. And, yes, that includes The Stitch community, who are perioperative nurses new to the profession. I have also observed nurses in the social media space across the nation traveling to countries to provide surgical care to those in great need. These acts of global kindness are remarkable and inspiring.

Legislation

Perioperative nurses are working to create and sustain a future we want to see for our profession. For example, every month on the national legislative forum call hosted by AORN’s Government Affairs department, perioperative nurse advocates gather to provide updates and support regarding surgical smoke evacuation legislation across the United States. Perioperative nurses are also advocating for safer working environments, endorsing workplace violence prevention initiatives, and championing access to safe, evidenced-based patient health care through state and federal policies.  All federal and state updates are shared on the monthly AORN Government Affairs calls for continuous collaboration for policy changes.

Education

Outside the legislative space, perioperative nurses are engaging in educational initiatives, such as developing position statements and toolkits to support practice. They also are creating spaces for nurses to showcase their quality improvements, research, and evidence-based practice changes; examples of such avenues include AORN’s Specialty Assemblies, National Research Committee and research symposiums, and education abstract submissions; and publications like AORN Journal and The Stitch. All nurses are advocating for our profession by contributing to this work. Nurses from across the globe also gather for the annual AORN Global Surgical Conference and Expo every spring for education opportunities and to discuss patient care practices.

Celebration

So, during this Perioperative Nurses Week, let’s celebrate loudly with words of appreciation for each other, and with continued action! Let’s honor the perioperative nurses who stand watch over every patient during procedures, when patients are at their most vulnerable, by holding their hand and using our voice to advocate on their behalf when they cannot. Let’s stand together and advocate for perioperative nurses and the entire surgical team to ensure safety and healing for every patient we serve. Above all, let’s stand together for the profession and continue to strive for the ongoing advancement of perioperative nursing.

With deep gratitude for your clinical excellence, advocacy, and heart,
Rebecca K. Vortman, DNP, RN, CNOR, NEA-BC, Associate Editor, AORN The Stitch