Faculty Give Keynote Address at Association of periOperative Registered Nurses Meeting

Drs. Talsma and Anderson present their work with the Perioperative Research Alliance.

This past week, Dr. AkkeNeel Talsma and Dr. Christine Anderson from the University of Michigan School of Nursing gave the keynote presentation at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their presentation entitled “The Perioperative Research Alliance: AORN & Clinical Practice and the University of Michigan School of Nursing – Findings, Success, and Lesson Learned” built on these researchers’ work studying quality of care and patient outcomes. More specifically, Dr. Talsma shared results of her work investigating the relationship between the presence of additional staff in an operating room during a procedure and patient outcomes. Similarly, Dr. Anderson presented her work which uses social network analyses to better understand how the frequency of a staff team working together affects patient outcomes. In addition to their research-based presentations, Dr. Talsma also led the first meeting of the Perioperative Research Alliance which discussed the need for continuing perioperative research, identified areas of common interest, and explored the advantages of collaboration among members to address both practice and knowledge based issues in the field.

The goal of AORN is to ensure that perioperative nurses have the latest resources and support they need to excel in both patient care and the advancement of nursing science. AORN sets the standard for advancement through education, advocacy for legislation that ensures better patient quality and improves the overall environment for perioperative nurses, and a network of perioperative professionals who are experts in their specialties and work settings. Learn more at the AORN website.