AORN will target 7 states in 2011 to enact RN as Circulator legislation: Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio
and Virginia.
"The perioperative RN, through professional and patient-centered expertise, is the primary patient advocate in the operating room and is responsible for monitoring all aspects of the patient's condition," says the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses. "The presence of the RN in the circulating role throughout each surgical procedure is essential for timely delivery of quality surgical care and optimal patient outcomes."
At least 34 states have legislative or regulatory language specific to the RN serving in the role of circulator in hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers or both. Twenty-three of these states require that the perioperative RN be present in each operating room throughout each surgical or invasive procedure. Many State Boards of Nursing and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services affirm through public directives, advisory opinions, practice guidelines or regulations that the circulating role belongs to the RN.
"Now is the time to make a clear statement in favor of patient safety for all surgical patients — hospital CEOs, nurse executives and surgeons need to work with their state organizations to enact RN as Circulator legislation," says AORN's executive director and CEO, Linda Groah, RN MSN, CNOR, CNAA, FAAN. "This requirement is timely at this moment of change in the healthcare system as patient safety becomes a central area of focus. Hospitals and ASCs have not routinely documented the use of an RN Circulator as part of their patient safety improvement and oversight efforts —— thus placing at risk the continued use of an RN as Circulator as the standard of care established by AORN recommended practices and Medicare's conditions for coverage for hospitals."
Dan O'Connor
