As our elected officials continue to discuss health-care reform, I encourage everyone to stand up for quality as a critical area for improvement.
Perioperative registered nurses see the need for continued quality improvement initiatives while working every day in the operating rooms of local hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers.
Our national association, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (www.aorn.org ) continues to lead patient safety efforts related to surgical procedures as it has since its founding in the 1960s.
We are the pioneers that developed and promoted the value of the Perioperative Nursing Data Set, a standardized language for documentation and evaluation of the care provided in the operating rooms of our nation’s hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers.
Our association has now embarked on a new phase of development to create a standardized perioperative framework that will be integrated into health-care information systems. This standardized, evidence-based data derived from standardized documentation is a cornerstone of public policy initiatives to measure quality and will support transition to a quality-driven health-care system.
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As you consider health-care reform and how it will impact you, I encourage you to consider the important role of evidence-based data such as what perioperative registered nurses are developing to improve quality of care in the operating room.
Norie MacIlraith
Rochester
