President's Message, November 1999
Pat Stewart, RN, CNOR
Munroe Medical Center
Ocala, FL

The October FCORN meeting, which was held in Ocala, was very informative. The attendees enjoyed the speakers, food and the horse show. Thanks to all of the members who worked on putting the meeting together. The presentation by Dr. Seagle on cleft palate reconstruction, at the October chapter meeting, was also interesting. We were not able to have a business meeting due to a lack of a quorum. We seem to be having a rough start on getting our chapter meetings underway. The September meeting had to be canceled because of a hurricane. And I feel that we had a low attendance at the October meeting because the newsletter did not get out to the chapter members. The business that was printing our newsletter lost the newsletter disc. For that reason Nan had to start at the beginning with the newsletter. Hopefully, November will be the month that it will all come together.

OR Nurse Week is November 14-20, 1999. The theme for OR Nurse Week is OR Nurses Make a World of Difference. The Public Relations Department from National has prepared a press release concerning OR Nurse Week. I will be happy to fax it to anyone who would like to use it. The press release states that perioperative registered nurses make a difference in patient care with their skill, compassion, and competence. And those perioperative registered nurses deliver the true essence of nursing care combining the technical and scientific aspects of nursing, with respect and compassion for the patient as a human being.

Furthermore, the press release addresses the importance of the preparation and training of the operating room staff, and that competency of the operating room staff is the single most pervasive factor affecting the quality of surgical care. It goes on to state that the perioperative registered nurse brings a broad scope of knowledge, skill, and judgement to the OR and exercises insight in assessing patient needs, developing a nursing care plan, and managing a patient's surgical experience. I believe that being members of our professional organization and being active in our chapter helps us to be better informed for our patients. It also shows that we are serious about our profession and the care we deliver to our patients. Congratulations and Happy OR Nurse Week to all of you!

Membership statistic from national: 42,343 members and 347 chapters.

Copyright © 1998, Chapter 1016
URL: http://www.afn.org/~afn06072/