Newsletter Archives

The Chapter is stepping into the 21st Century offering its newsletter online. All the same information found in your print newsletter will be found here. Enjoy.

Hi Everyone,

Congratulations to all of our newly elected and returning officers! Many thanks to the nominating committee and members for a successful election. I hope that you all will be attending the June meeting and congratulate your new board! I look forward to next year when I can meet members in our committees. Sign up for a committee this is a great way to stay active and involved with your Chapter! If any members have suggestions and ideas as to what educational offerings, workshops and community projects this chapter can get involved in, as a group, please email your board members. I thoroughly enjoyed being the chapter president, it was enlightening and educational. Thank you everyone for your support and it has been a privilege to serve as your chapter president.

Greetings everyone! It is June already, time is moving much too fast. I'll take this opportunity to thank you all our membership for your support, our organization depends on each and every one of you. I am looking forward to serving as your chapter President. I will outline my goals in the next newsletter. Remember your feedback has an impact. If there are some areas we should focus on as a chapter, please let me know, I'd love to take your views into consideration while charting the course ahead. You can catch me at a chapter meeting or email me. Thanks again for all you do.

Call To Order: General Meeting called to order by President Peka @6:45 pm.

Approval of the Minutes: MSC to approve Minutes as printed in the newsletter.

President's Report: Peka encourages everyone to sign up for a committee next year. June 17th National Time Out Day, what are you doing to celebrate? National President, Patrick Voight, has chosen the theme for next year's Congress it is "Reaching the Peak of Perioperative Practice-Safety, Quality and Collaboration." We received a letter from the AORN Foundation thanking us for the donation. ORNCC held their meeting in Oakland, The Collaborative Alliance Nursing Outcomes (CALNOC) collects data on performance improvement issues and nursing outcomes in 3 states and publishes them on the web site. Their next meeting is in July in Long Beach. Congress 2010 will be in Denver. ORNCC is looking for a place to hold a luncheon meeting. ORNCC has 1500 California pins still available to buy. Year end reports are due by June 30th. Peka is still looking for a pin design for our chapter.

President-Elect Maureen needs all newsletter articles by June 5th. The June installation dinner will be held here at AMN healthcare instead of a restaurant. The catered dinner will cost $15.00 and your money needs to be to Maureen a week before the meeting.

Vice-President: Speaker for tonight is Candise Flippin & Barley. The speaker for June's dinner meeting is Captain Select J. Proano. The topic is on "Operational Nursing."

Nominating Committee: Ballots are available for voting until 7:10 pm.

Hospitality: Vickie thanked everyone for bringing refreshments tonight and thanked all hospitals who provided refreshment this year.

Workshop: There were 25 registrants for the Spring workshop for a total of $925.00. Then 4 attendee's registrations were reimbursed as part of the scholarship awards program for the amount of $140.00. We brought in $85.00 from gift bags for a total of $1,010.00 less $140.00. Final profit $870.00. Spring workshop end of the year report was submitted.

Informatics: The Board voted to have Suzanne Ward go ahead and format a new web site for us. Please be sure we have an accurate and current email address on file as of September we will no longer print and mail newsletters.

Scholarship: Mary Ann Schultz-Ramierz completed her CNOR and is the recipient of a partial reimbursement of the test fee. Valeria Swain and Linda Phillips were recipients of scholarships last year, both have completed their degree program, congratulations. April 1st thru September 2010 is the next scholarship opening for CNOR & CRNFA. Deadline to get the application is November 1st.

Membership: 352

Golf: June 5th is the golf tournament. There are about 50 players. You can still sign up to play or come help out.

Ways & Means: We are still looking at selling pins for a fund raiser and anyone else who has suggestions please let Peka know.

New Business: We will have a fund raiser for Flowers for the Float. There will be a money jar available at the meetings starting in September.

Announcements: The Post-Anesthesia Nurses Association is having a workshop meeting locally and are looking at possibly setting up a local chapter.

Treasurer's Report for April 2009

Beginning Balance: $23,454.64
Income: $1,675.00
Expenses: $1,461.43
Ending Balance: $23,659,96

A webinar entitled "Legislative Mumbo Jumbo: Tips for Making Sense of it ALL" will be held on June 11 @ 4 PM PST. This Webinar will provide a basic understanding of how to locate, dissect and read a bill in order to determine the potential impact it will have on Perioperative nursing practice. It will provide tools to locate bills, break them down into key sections and apply them to AORN's legislative priorities. Speakers will include Claire Karas, a member of AORN's National Legislative Committee and Jo Colacci, AORN Government Affairs Manager. Please contact Jo Colacci to sign up for this Webinar.

AORN's CEO Linda Groah, RN, MSN, CNOR, FAAN, participated May 5 in a briefing for Congressional staffers that reinforced the important contribution of Nurses in Health Care and Health Reform.

Dangerous Savings: There are some hospitals in the "Midwest" that are requiring their employees to only "double glove" and wear "protective attire" for specific cases only. These would be limited to patients known to have TB, MRSA, Aids, and known infections.

Advocacy Tools: Nursing Priorities include safe patient handling, eliminating mercury in the healthcare setting, mandatory overtime, nursing education, nursing quality indicators, nurse staffing plans and ratios, nursing workforce data collection, title "nurse protection" whistle blower protection and work place violence.

I am pleased to announce that our San Diego chapter has maintained its membership at 355-370 during this membership year. We have increased our attendance during this year by having all of our meetings at the same site. We have increased the membership of our Associate & Facility members. I salute all of you who have maintained your membership in YOUR professional organization and especially to those who keep coming back and have brought new members from your facilities into our chapter and to our meetings. Let us celebrate our success this year together at our installation of our new officers later this month. Invite your co-workers to celebrate their professional organization-AORN of San Diego.

Important Web Site Update

Committee members have been working with 3rd Row Designs, electronically of course, in making decisions regarding updating our website. After looking at a proposal, the committee revised it, sent it back and received a 2nd proposal then we presented it to the board. Our website will have a Home Page, information about our chapter, calendar of events, Chapter News which includes all committee reports, events and minutes. It will also include archives of old newsletters, scholarship applications and Officer information. We will have option for the future for us to develop a student information and question page. In looking at the costs of a paper newsletter and an electronic newsletter, the board decided to go with just an electronic website, everything is included in it that's in our paper newsletter. So.... We are looking to launch our website by September 2009!!!! We need members to update and correct their email address with national when you renew your membership. This will ensure that you will receive your newsletter by email. The committee will work with the president elect and our webmaster to keep things updated and make sure you receive a newsletter.

Other Informatic News: National is looking at electronic charting for surgery that is simple and can be used in all states. Some of you may have seen this at Congress, I will keep you updated as to its cost effectiveness and if it can be integrated in to our existing software programs.

Special congratulations to Valerie Swain and Linda Phillps for attaining their BSNs from the University of Phoenix this year. Both Valerie and Linda were scholarship recipients last year. And also to Mary Ann Schultz-Ramirez from Scripps Mercy for passing the CNOR exam. She received half of the exam fee from the chapter. If you are taking the CNOR/CRNFA for the first time, April 1 to September 30 the chapter will be awarding two grants in December. For more information or an application please contact me.

Congratulations to the following Elected Officers

President-Elect: Michelle Fennell

Vice-President: Lisa Finch

Secretary: Linda Cacioppo

Treasurer: Candise Flippin

Board of Directors:

1-year Evelyn Frasier

2-years Anne Hones

Nominating Committee:

1-year Randolph Battler

2-years Vickie Pierce

Stay Tuned for Information about the 2010 Golf Tournament.

Visit our Calendar Page for all information about Chapter Meetings & Workshops Schedules and Hospitality Schedules.