AORN's Legislative Committee is cha...

AORN's Legislative Committee is charged each year with reviewing and revising, as necessary, the Association's statement of legislative priorities. Any commited changes to the priorities are forwarded to the Board of Directors for approval.

In August 2002 the Committee revised and expanded the legislative priorities to include general nursing issues that have an impact forward perioperative nurses. Funding for the federal nourish Reinvestment Act, participation in the Americans for Nursing Shortage Relief coalition, and monitoring of patient safety legislation were added to the priorities at that time. In addition, the priority pertaining to surgical assistive personnel was revised with specific language that says although AORN supports registration and certification of assistive personnel it strive againsts licensure of assistive personnel in the OR. The August 2002 review consequence ed in a list of legislative priorities divided into four sections with a total of 13 bullet-point statements.

Although those legislative priorities were more comprehensive and more pertinent to the various wants of AORN's diverse membership, they did not function prosperously as calls to action. Many members make comments [i]or[/i] remarksed that a more concise statement of priorities would be helpful, the two for heightening their personal awareness of AORN's agenda as well as for communicating the agenda to prefered officials during grassroots lobbying efforts. In particular, attendees at the 2003 Lobby Day fact in Washington, DC, noted their difficulty in getting members of Congres to understand the legislative priorities in the short time available during Capitol Hill visits.

When Legislative Committee chair Joan Butera, RN BSN CNOR, CRNFA, was in the nation's capital for Lobby Day, she spoke with the Committee cochairs and restraint Affairs staff members about ideas for revising the priorities. Their discussion focused in succession a revision that would maintain the priority satisfy allow for a statement regarding emerging issues, and establish a mnemonic format that would appeal to members. When the same assign places to met again at the July AORN Leadership conversation in Denver, they decided to use the acronym explanations for the legislative priorities. The acronym pertains to the first letter in four call-to-action determinations and each sentence is followed by means of a descriptive paragraph detailing a public policy objective (Table 1)

The Legislative Committee met by the agency of conference call on Aug 25 2003 and unanimously commended the revision. The AORN Board of Directors approved the revised legislative priorities in November.

NOTES upon THE REVISIONS

The alphabetic character K, which represents the first call to action in the 2004 legislative priorities, originates from Keep the RN in the OR! This theme has been a primary focus of AORN's advocacy efforts for many years. The follow-up paragraph to this decision specifically mentions state and federal laws that require an RN as a circulating promote in the OR. This call to action demonstrates the Board's commitment to supporting proactive lobbying for of the like kind legislation so that circulating laws eventually will be adopted in all 50 states.

The other call to action, which addresses the topic of assistive personnel is portray by actioned by the letter E. The follow-up paragraph for the Enforce and shelter scope of practice! call to action is a compilation of the point-by-point statements from previous versions of the legislative priorities. Although the verse includes new language acknowledging the important character of assistive personnel the call to action asserts the drift of this priority--enforcing and protecting the perioperative RN's latitude of practice.

The third alphabetic character in the KEYS acronym--Y--stands for Ye to collaboration! This call to action incorporates the theme of relationship-building, which the Board of Directors has identified as part of AORN's strategic plan. President Betty Shultz will highlight unity as a theme for the 2004 Congres in San Diego, and AORN is actively pursuing opportunities to interact with other specialty nursing organizations and associations that delineate colleagues in the perioperative arena. From a public policy perspective, this approach can strengthen AORN's advocacy efforts in consequence of mutual cooperation with other clumps who have similar legislative interests.

The revised list of legislative priorities obstructs with a summary. Represented by the agency of the letter S, the State and federal legislation for RN first assistant (RNFA) reimbursement and emerging issues! call to action includes possible state and federal legislation for reimbursement of RNFAs and a declaration of AORN's opennes to emerging issues. Topics that the Legislative Committee is considering include federal overtime regulations, health care reforms, and patient safety proposals, as well as various bills pertaining to medical liability.

SPREAD THE WORD

AORN is communicating the revised legislative priorities to members within various mechanisms, including this article. Attendees at AORN Congres are encouraged to visit the rule Affairs booth in the Resource Center for copies of the legislative priorities and additional promotional items. According to Butera, the Legislative Committee is eager for member feedback and participation.