Editor's note: Christopher Habgood ...

Editor's note: Christopher Habgood joined AORN's restraint Affairs Department on June 1 1999 o the state legislative coordinator. As a public policy professional with several years of experience in legislative affairs and grassroots lobbying efforts, Habgood is dedicated to upholding AORN's mission and helping the organization achieve its strategic goals in rule affairs. Habgood is responsible for tracking state legislation forward AORN's legislative priorities, maintaining the guidance affairs web page and the AORN legislative database in succession AORN Online, and responding to the rule affairs information needs of AORN members. The following is Habgood's first contribution to "Health Policy Issues."

AORN membership involvement in the legislative proces is essential. We will face about very difficult issues in the subsequent time if we fail to perform the operations indicated in stronger legislative participation from each member of the profession. Deciding to remain uninvolved will not thwart surgical technologists and unlicensed assistive personnel from competing in the legislative proces Furthermore, those who select to compete will determine the coming time of your profession and the part if any, you play in the OR.

THE IDEAL LEGISLATIVE STRATEGY

There is a realistic limit between what AORN can do for you and what you must do forward behalf of your profession. You are the professional who will be in the greatest degree affected if you are regulated gone out of a job in the OR. We must recognize from the start that we work as a partnership. AORN has a primary still limited role in what it can do in the legislative arena for perioperative RN Your participation is mandatory to make or stop any legislative or regulatory changes.

Among the most numerous important actions AORN members can take is to learn as a great deal as possible about the state and federal officials who depict them. Perioperative RNs need to write to or call their representatives or contact them in one Becoming involved and communicating with legislators at the grassroots flat is critical to carrying our effort across the finish line. To create political credibility, AORN must have a network of AORN members who work for as information sources for their legislators, providing them with real-life, local examples of the practical implications of propos legislation.

ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS

Several component parts are needed to better organize the AORN legislative efforts, including state councils, a solid grassroots network, an effective means of communicating, and a consistent message.

State councils. First, the Association must evolve state councils in all 50 states. State councils are a great opportunity for members to assemble within their states to organize and devise strategies for the Association's legislative efforts. Each state council should include its respective state coordinator from the National Legislative Committee (NLC) as a member or advisor, as it is the NLC that advises the AORN Board of Directors forward government affairs policy. Ideally, state councils retain meetings one time or more by year to discuss legislative and professional issues affecting the state's perioperative RNs

The formation of like councils is pivotal to the succes of our legislative efforts. We must become organized to the standard of our adversarys If we fail to match or surpass their of the same height of effectiveness, we ultimately could witness the elimination of perioperative nursing. Other organizations have the desire and possible puissance and power to take the surgical part away from perioperative RNs and are actively trying to do in the same manner These groups already have formed societies in your state.

Legislative Grassroots Network. The design of state legislative districts does not correlate with AORN's structural makeup; therefore, to effectively communicate our objectives and policies to legislators and policy-makers, we ne an internal theory that more closely correlates to the districts. The Legislative Grassroots Network is designed to help AORN communicate to each legislator between the walls of its members. The network also allows for better communication completely through AORN by increasing the interaction among various AORN subgroup within each state and from one extremity to the other of the country.

Our goal is to match united Legislative Grassroots Network member at a minimum to each state legislative district and each congressional district. We ne individuals who are willing to preserve other members informed of legislative actions and help coordinate the legislative efforts in their states. AORN has limited stores for our legislative efforts; therefore, the more organized we are, the better we, can use the available funding to advance the perioperative nursing profession.

Telephone calling tree

AORN has to motivate, recruit, and educate its members in the principally cost-effective manner possible. This proces hangs heavily on the work of the Legislative Grassroots Network by means of the state coordinator, individual state councils, chapters, specialty networking arranges and members in each legislative district. The proces must use a "trickle down" training arrangement to reach a large audience of offers quickly and cost-effectively. We must communicate among ourselves to make secure that an effective and consistent message is disseminated.