AORN Sets Speaker Roster, Content Schedule for 2013 Congress

The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses 2013 Congress, March 3-7 in San Diego, will focus on safe surgical practice, operating room management advances, and the newest products for surgery featuring more than 100 speakers and 500 surgical product exhibits. The associations annual conference is the largest gathering of perioperative registered nurses in the world and the largest surgical products trade show in the U.S.

AORN Congress speakers are renowned subject matter experts on evidence-based practices and policies for safe surgical care. In more than 100 education sessions over four days, they will present a range of topics within the scope, responsibilities, and dimension of professional perioperative nursing practice including patient and health care worker safety.  Specialty sessions for professional development and personalized tracks such as ambulatory surgery and infection prevention are woven throughout the 2013 Congress program.  Hot topics for all attendees include sterilization, safe environment of care, sterile technique, healthcare reform, prevention of transmissible infections, reimbursement and product selection.

As the largest surgical products trade show in the U.S., the AORN Congress exhibit floor is open to all attendees and provides extensive opportunities for hands-on product testing and evaluation. More than 5,000 industry representatives attend the event to discuss and present their products features directly to the surgical nurses. For the fourth year, Ethicon, Inc., is the exclusive Platinum Corporate Supporter.

Covering a wide array of topics from comedy to a surgeons view of the dysfunction of the American medical system, general session speakers include:

-Marty Makary MD, MPH, FACS. Makary is author of The New York Times bestselling book, "Unaccountable," a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital and associate professor of health policy at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

- JP Pawliw-Fry, acting president for the Institute for Health and Human Potential (IHHP) and a thought leader on leadership, performance and managing change,

- J.R. Martinez, author of The New York Times bestselling book, "Full of Heart." Martinez is an actor, motivational speaker, and retired US Army soldier

- Karyn Buxman, MSN, RN, CSP, CPAE, a humorist and observer of the human condition

- Dan Heath, author of "Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard," which debuted at #1 on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.

On March 2-3, AORN and the Competency and Credentialing Institute (CCI) will offer a Surgical Services Management Certificate program. This comprehensive  program covers six learning modules designed to provide the participant a mastery of surgical services management. Participants will earn 22 contact hours.

Pre-Congress Intensives include Advancing Pediatric Perioperative Nursing Care through Collaboration, Change Anything: Skills for Self-Directed Change, Best Practices for Cardiac and Vascular Surgery, Create Education Magic: Energize and Engage Your Learners for Maximum Effectiveness, Cleaning, Decontamination, and Sterilization: Seeing Should Not Be Believing, Sterile Processing: A Collaborative Approach, Effectively Managing Adverse Patient Events and Mitigation of Risk, Current Trends in Robotics. Pre-Congress Intensives and the Surgical Services Management Certificate program require separate registrations fees.

Participants may earn up to 54 contact hours (CH) during the conference and additional credit hours for the Pre-Congress Intensive Workshops. Additional hours (22 CH) may be earned by attending the Surgical Services Management Certificate Program.

Complete conference information and registration is available online at www.aorn.org/congress.  For additional registration information, contact the AORN Customer Service Office at (800) 755-2675.

Source: AORN