This year was also an interesting one as this was my first Congress that I attended solo (also r/t economy). Luckily, we have an awesome chapter and I was able to share a hotel room and spend time with Terri Goodman, eChapter Treasurer. We were able to meet at the airport on Saturday evening and even though we hadn’t met in person before, we got along very well! The great thing that happened for me in Chicago was being to talk to people that understand my workplace and get some great insights from them. Congress is such an uplifting event for Periop RN’s. I continue to encourage attendance if for no other reason than to be around other nurses with a variety of careers in the Surgical Services arena and all are focused on providing the best patience care and sharing knowledge. The knowledge base I encountered was amazing and I saw a lot of enthusiasm for Periop nursing, which has been sadly missing in my life recently. I needed an enthusiasm shot in the arm and I received a good dose of it.

Serving as a delegate was interesting. Our eChapter annual meeting went well and I got to meet some of the other members of our very large chapter—between taking minutes at the meeting, that is! It was a rush to get from that meeting to the first delegate meeting, the candidates’ introduction session. All of the delegate meetings were run very efficiently and watching Robert’s Rules actually used was awesome. I was very impressed by the candidates’ credentials – they all seemed very qualified for the positions they were running for. And, a number of them, including our new President, Patrick Voight, are eChapter members!

I attended a number of educational sessions including: “What if and why not?” by Mike Rayburn, Exploring the Keys to Preventing Unintentionally Retained Objects: Teamwork & Collaboration”, “Embracing Health: Stamping Out Surgical Smoke in Our Lifetime”, “Your Hospital is Buying a Robot: What You Need to Know from Purchase to Proficiency”, ‘NOTES-The Next Generation of Minimally Invasive Surgery”. I also attended the Perioperative Quizbowl: Evidence Based Practice. The sessions were helpful to me in that I realized that my hospital has a lot of good practices in place but there is always room for improvements. The difficulty is always justifying the bottom line—what it will cost!! I also reviewed a number of posters and spent time in the exhibition hall looking at many products and getting in more education sessions. I also went with Terri to the CNOR Oasis to find out more about CNOR recertification via portfolio and found that very interesting. My initial thoughts going into it were to retake the exam but after the session, I have committed myself to putting a portfolio together this year.

The most fun I had was meeting other eChapter members and spending time with them! I went to a Jewish deli, a brewpub, an Irish restaurant and pub, an old firehouse restaurant, the Grand Lux restaurant (twice!), a history museum with a pirate display, and the art museum. Pam Bennett and I also attended the Exhibitor’s Night at McCormick Place and watched the Second City Players perform some very funny improv. And the Canadian girls, Robyn and Susie, were a hoot to spend an evening with! I was also able to meet members at our eChapter booth and help out there a bit. And it was great to win a prize in our raffle! I’m getting a lot of use out of the camera! I also enjoyed meeting some of AORN’s leaders through Terri (I swear she knows everybody!!)

Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to serve the chapter at 2009 Congress!