Surgical smoke has been recognized as an occupational hazard in the perioperative environment for decades, yet consistent adherence to smoke safety practices remains a persistent challenge. This presentation will provide perioperative RNs with an evidence-informed overview of the health risks associated with surgical smoke exposure, including the harmful effects of particulate matter and toxic compounds such as benzene. Attendees will explore common barriers to compliance, such as workflow constraints, equipment access, and cultural resistance, and identify actionable approaches to overcome these challenges at the point of care. By emphasizing both the "why" and the "how,"" this session aims to empower perioperative nurses to advocate for safer environments, strengthen adherence to smoke evacuation practices, and drive meaningful, sustained change within their organizations.

Objectives:

1. Describe the potential health risks associated with surgical smoke particulate matter exposure, including the implications for perioperative personnel.
2. Examine the health hazards of benzene and other toxic chemicals in surgical smoke and discuss their impact on occupational safety and long-term health outcomes.
3. Identify key barriers to surgical smoke safety compliance and apply evidence-based strategies to improve adherence in perioperative settings.

Translate the updated AORN Guideline for Prevention of Unintentionally Retained Surgical Items into real-world perioperative practice. This session highlights key updates to the guideline and their implications for clinical practice. Through interactive clinical scenarios, participants will work through key decision points related to surgical counts, team communication, discrepancy resolution, and adjunct technology. Emphasis is placed on recognizing system vulnerabilities and applying practical strategies that support reliable perioperative practice.

Objectives:

1. Summarize key updates and concepts in the revised AORN RSI guideline.
2. Apply practical strategies to support implementation of RSI prevention processes.
3. Analyze clinical scenarios to identify risks and breakdowns that contribute to RSIs.

Patient positioning and temperature management are often planned separately, yet both affect perioperative heat loss and patient safety. This session translates the AORN Guidelines for Patient Temperature Management and Positioning the Patient into practice, with emphasis on assessment, risk identification, warming interventions, and temperature monitoring. It also examines how positioning, exposure, and procedural requirements influence temperature management. Participants will work through common perioperative challenges and apply evidence-based strategies that support safe patient positioning and thermal outcomes.

Objectives:

• Discuss the perioperative nurse’s role in patient positioning and temperature management.
• Identify strategies to prevent positioning injuries and perioperative hypothermia.
• Review evidence-based recommendations for safe positioning and maintaining normothermia throughout the perioperative period.

Intraoperative patient blood management (PBM) is a nursing-sensitive, team-based patient safety practice that focuses on anticipating blood loss, supporting surgical hemostasis, communicating blood loss trends, and escalating care when needed. This session translates AORN Guidelines for Perioperative Practice into intraoperative application, emphasizing team communication, medication safety, and patient information management. Participants will explore how general surgery, high-blood-loss procedures, and trauma-informed principles influence real-time decision-making and apply evidence-based strategies to improve bleeding management and patient outcomes in the operating room.

Objectives:

1. Explain key principles of intraoperative patient blood management, including anticipation, bleeding control, reassessment, and escalation.
2. Apply evidence-based intraoperative strategies to recognize and manage bleeding across general, high-blood-loss, and trauma-informed surgical scenarios.
3. Demonstrate AORN-aligned practices for team communication, medication safety, and documentation that support safe intraoperative blood management.
4. Identify opportunities to strengthen intraoperative workflows that improve blood loss prevention, communication, and escalation in perioperative practice.

During this session we are going to discuss why decolonization is significant in SSI prevention and review AORN guidance for determining the need for a decolonization program, as well as how to implement a program if it is indicated for your surgical population.

Objectives:

1. Recognize the impact of decolonization on reducing skin flora and surgical site infections.
2. Navigate risk-based decisions for developing preoperative decolonization programs using the AORN guideline for preoperative patient skin antisepsis.