AORN Congress Second Forum

AORN’s Second Forum drew hundreds of members Monday for two association reports and an extended open discussion.

AORN Membership Director Mary Anna McOwen presented the 2024 Membership Report, spotlighting AORN’s focus last year on affordability for members while retaining and even increasing member value. Membership dues decreased this year from $170 for a standard membership to $125, and AORN now has monthly memberships available for $11.99/month. In an overview of the past year, McOwen spotlighted a year that was impacted by the transition to a new association management system, growth in international membership, as well as new features such as a new mentorship program.

AORN's total membership reached 40,612 by the end of 2024. The organization welcomed 5,241 new paid members in 2024. The paid retention rate was 79.7% in 2024, representing a slight decrease from previous years – and with the system changes now stabilized, membership is on the increase this year.

Government Affairs Associate Director Jennifer Pennock then presented AORN’s policy agenda, which includes health equity, public health, safety and practice support, and practice issues. In addition to AORN’s focus on surgical smoke legislation, AORN’s policy agenda broadly addresses RN circulator and RNFA roles, health equity, and workplace safety issues facing operating room nurses.

Surgical smoke legislation was enacted in West Virginia, Virginia and Minnesota in 2024, bringing the total states with smoke evacuation laws to 18. Legislative efforts are currently pending in Arkansas, Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Hawaii.

President Tolliver then invited members to the microphones for open discussion.  This year's discussion encompassed critical issues such as positioning perioperative nurses as “more than a nurse circulator or OR nurse”; membership dues and retention, access to resources and information, voting and member engagement, AORN Chapter support and communication, and professional development.

In a follow-up to the First Forum, Bill Duffy RN, MJ, CNOR, FAAN, said he will not introduce a motion to bring the evidence-based AORN Guidelines for Perioperative Practice to the House of Delegates for approval. Instead, Duffy and Erin Kyle, DNP, RN, CNOR, NEA-BC, AORN Editor in Chief of the AORN Guidelines for Perioperative Practice said AORN will work with chapters to discuss guidelines in development and elicit feedback from members.

“This is the beauty of governance,” President Nakeisha Tolliver DNP, MBA, RN, NE-BC, CNOR, CSSM, praised the new engagement approach that also preserves the evidence-based process.

A number of questions were raised about the role of delegates and AORN’s “one member, one vote” policy. Recommendations also were made to enhance the election process to engage more members, including a more prominent banner on the AORN website and the keeping the inclusion of candidate photos in the voting platform.

As to the confusion surrounding AORN members and delegates, the AORN bylaws provide all RN members the right to vote, both for candidates and in the House of Delegates on the business of the association. In other words, all RN members are delegates. “Chapter-designated delegates” are simply those members named as such for their chapters. There is no minimum or maximum number of chapter-designated delegates a chapter or state may have.

In a show of professional pride, several members encouraged colleagues to adopt a more consistent use of “perioperative nurse” when referring to our roles – and discontinuing the use of “operating room nurse” or “nurse circulator.”

Other topics raised:

Members praised the reduced membership dues and efforts to increase value. A suggestion was made to allow for an easy upgrade from lifetime member to the leader category of membership.

A number of speakers raised concerns about the shortened conference (from five days to four the past two years) that limits the numbers of education sessions and increases session conflicts.

A speaker advocated for nurses to both circulate and scrub, encouraging more resources to train nurses for the scrub role. AORN has a new course for Preparing for the Scrub Role available for both individuals and facilities to purchase.

Members spoke about the importance of maintaining diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within AORN and encouraged continued advocacy on topics like non-visible disabilities. President Tolliver assured the audience that AORN remains committed to its values, which include diversity, equity and inclusion and to providing meaningful resources to advance health equity for AORN members in their practice.

Some members expressed a desire for greater access to the AORN Guidelines through their membership or facilities. AORN eGuidelines+ is an online library of the full Guidelines for Perioperative Practice and hundreds of related clinical tools and resources such as policy and procedure templates. eGuidelines+ is available to facilities for a subscription that would enable staff full access. AORN members have access to Guideline Essentials, which are toolkits developed for each guideline to help members understand the recommendations and how to implement them. These are available on the website as member benefits.

One member advocated to keep the nursing network as a chapter benefit, and President Tolliver assured the audience that AORN is committed to continue paying for Nursing Network as a platform for AORN chapters.  

A speaker suggested polling attendees to determine desired educational content and sharing this information with exhibitors. AORN conducts an attendee survey following the conference and asks for specific feedback about topics of interest. We use this information to determine educational topics for webinars, events and conferences and share it with our sponsors.

A suggestion was made for AORN to advocate to eliminate exposure to waste anesthesia gases. Additional suggestions were to explore the possibility of adding a policy scholar to enhance public policy work and increasing awareness about the need for enhanced sharps safety, promoting RNFA training and recognition.

Among the last to speak at the extended open forum was the President of the new Portugal Chapter. He apologized for missing roll call at the First Forum Sunday and proudly announced – to loud applause - that Portugal had brought 18 delegates to Congress, making it one of the larger groups of chapter delegates.

The House of Delegates convenes on Tuesday at 12:30 where members will hear speeches from President Tolliver, new CEO/Executive Director David Wyatt, and then incoming president-elect Darlene Murdock, before learning the election results.