OR nurses need to go public Who knows the operating room nurse?

At the AORN ”Writing for Publication” work- shop in Chicago, small groups worked on de- veloping outlines for manuscripts. My group was outlining an article for the Journal on pro- fessionalism of OR nurses. We talked about how the OR nurse could gain more recognition as a professional. The nurses in the group felt their professional stature was not always acknowledged by their colleagues and by the public.

I was particularly interested in the problem of public recognition of the professional operat- ing room nurse for two reasons. One is the threat of changing Medicare regulations by the US Department of Health, Education, and Wel- fare (HEW) to permit technicians to circulate. This is forcing operating room nurses to look for public support.

The voice of the consumer is a recognized influence in government. Operating room nurses need the support of consumers or pa- tients, ie, the public, to help convince the gov- ernment agency that quality nursing care makes a difference in the operating room.

This brings me to the second reason. Re- cently my father had surgery. When I said to him, “You should get good nursing care in the operating room,” he replied, “Oh, I don’t think I will need that.” He obviously had no idea what nurses in the operating room do. I told him he would get nursing care whether he was aware of it or not. And I hope he did, but he was not aware of any nurse in the OR giving him any care or attention. Don’t mistake me. He was well taken care of. He had plenty of praise for

Bd Editorial

the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. He felt very comfortable. But he never saw or met an operating room nurse, or at least anyone he was able to identify as an operating room nurse.

Incidentally, I heard many positive com- ments about the nurses on the unit. He knew they took care of him, and he appreciated what they did for him.

How do you demonstrate to the public what quality nursing care in the OR means? Roles and functions are confusing and not always meaningful to the public. What does the public care about? The “public” breaks down into individual persons-a patient or a consumer.

This patient cares about what happens to him, especially at this critical time when he is having surgery. What matters to him at this time is the people who take care of him. He is grateful to those who give him care and do for him what he can’t do himself. He recognizes the importance of their acts. But if that care is given while he is unconscious and he is un- aware of it, how can he recognize the impor- tance of those acts?

There is one way individual OR nurses can make patients aware of what they do for them. This is through preoperative interviews. The main purpose of such interviews is to gather information to assess the patient’s needs and to plan nursing care, but there are important fringe benefits forthe nurse. She has an oppor- tunity to tell that patient what she, the operating room nurse, will be doing for him while he is in surgery. The patient will then be more aware of the nursing care he receives in the operating room. A follow-up visit helps to reinforce the OR nurse’s role in his care. It also lets the patient know that the nurse cares about him as well as for him.

AORN Journal, December 1978, Vol28, No 6 1009

By seeing patients preoperatively and post- operatively, operating room nurses can dem- onstrate to the public that they are important for quality patient care in the operating room.

Your patients can then help you by telling HEW representatives and Congressmen that nursing is important in the operating room- that the circulator must be a registered nurse.

Don’t be afraid to ask. Don’t be afraid to go public. Make sure patients coming to the OR know who the operating room nurse is.

As of mid-October, the proposed HEW Medicare regulations regarding the OR cir-

culator had not been published. Originally, HEW had stated they would be published in the Federal Register in July. Then the date was postponed. The latest word is that it will be 1979 before the regulations are published. The period for comments is 90 days following pub- lication of the regulations. AORN will send a letter to all members as soon as the proposed regulations are published in the Federal Reg- ister.

Elinor S Schrader Editor

lncidence of mumps reaches lowest point The incidence of mumps is at its lowest rate in the United States since data for the disease have been reported. In 1977 there were 21,436 cases of mumps reported, a 44.3% decrease from 1976 and a 66.4% decrease from the annual average of 1972-1 976.

An article in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Oct 6) states most areas of the United States had a decline in the number of mumps cases, although there was regional variation in incidence. Mumps retains its seasonal nature, with most cases reported in winter and spring months.

Primarily a disease of young children, mumps occurs at the highest rate in the 5- to 9-year-old group, followed by children between the ages of 1 and 4, and 10 and 14. Since licensing of the mumps vaccine in 1968, all age groups have experienced a significant decline in mumps cases. The greatest decrease, 68.6%, has been in the 5- to 9-year-old group.

mumps, encephalitis and aseptic meningitis, have been reported to be consistently fewer than before the vaccine was licensed. Data from 1976 indicate mumps encephalitis accounted for 3.9% of all encephalitis reported, as opposed to 35.8% in 1967. Since 1968, the mumps encephalitis rate has remained at about 2.6 per 1,000 mumps cases.

Since 1968, the complications from

The rate of reported mumps aseptic

meningitis has also remained relatively constant, accounting for about 1.1% of all viral aseptic meningitis. Its occurrence rate is approximately 0.4 to 1 .O per 1,000 mumps cases.

AHA delegates choose new chairman-elect A Washington, DC, hospital executive has been chosen as chairman-elect of the American Hospital Association (AHA). Sister Irene Kraus, Daughters of Charity, president of Providence Hospital, is the first woman to be elected to the position.

Her election to the three-year term was announced by the AHA House of Delegates at their 77th annual convention in Anaheim, Calif. As chairman-elect, Sister Irene will in 1979 preside over the AHA General Council, which reviews policy recommendations for hospitals, and the following year will be chairman of the 25-member Board of Trustees. In 1981, she will be speaker of the AHA House of Delegates.

Sister Irene has been president of Providence Hospital since 1975. She holds a bachelor of science in nursing from Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, and a master’s degree in business administration from Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton.

1010 AORN Journal, December 1978, Vol28, No 6