Thank-you for allowing me to serve as a delegate. This year I served on the Congress Relations Committee. Over the past year, members of AORN's Congress Relations Committee, appointed by President Susan K. Banschbach, RN, MSN, CNOR, developed strategies to make Congress guests feel more welcome and increase partnership formation among health leaders within and across national boundaries. The goal: to share nursing knowledge that assists the nursing profession in improving the health and education of patients and the communities in which nurse’s practice, lead, teach and conduct research. Providing quality health care is a global issue that requires global action, and AORN is working to strengthen these collaborations among perioperative nurses. That's why AORN placed an increased focus on international guests and worldwide partnerships at the 2009 AORN Congress in ChicagoBy collaborating with our international colleagues, we have an opportunity to share our core nursing values, standards, experience, knowledge and wisdom. Nurses can create a sense of community, and opportunities created by the Internet and by face-to-face meetings like Congress strengthen this global community.
In an historic first, AORN enhanced the impact of nursing globally through an international town hall meeting. This town hall meeting, was led by President Banschbach, and provided an open forum to discuss international perioperative learning. An International Meet and Greet program was instituted this year, placing Congress volunteers at key locations and venues during the week of Congress week to assist international colleagues. Volunteers offered an hour or two during Congress to greet international nurses in the registration area, escort them to the reserved seating area at opening session and serve as hosts.
The Congress Relations Committee arranged tours of two local hospitals in the Chicago for international colleagues. . Our International colleagues presented 12 posters and educational sessions at Congress.
Additionally, International colleagues wore special ribbons identifying them. The Congress Relations Committee created a directory of Congress attendees who are multilingual. By connecting people who speak the same language, this directory was intended to be the beginning of an on-going process to make the global world of perioperative nursing smaller and to enable continued friendships made at Congress. Hopefully, this initiative will expand beyond Congress into a year-round endeavor Future international activities led by AORN may include targeted international academic exchanges, partnerships fostering, exploration of issues relating to the quality of the nursing workforce worldwide, international speakers, and increasing access to relevant training and education at Congress meetings in the future.