Perioperative Nurse

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)1, more than 500,000 people who work in the operating room – including many who are perioperative nurses – are exposed to surgical smoke each year. Surgical smoke is the by-product of surgical procedures in which an electric device is used to ablate, cut, coagulate, desiccate, fulgurate, or vaporize tissue, and can decrease site visibility and impact air quality in the operating room. In fact, the American Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) estimates being in an operating room for just one day has the potential to expose operating staff to surgical smoke that is equivalent to smoking 27 to 30 unfiltered cigarettes2.

Healthcare delivery — particularly in operating rooms across the country — changes rapidly each year, requiring nurses to innovate solutions for patients that are both effective and practical for the operating room (OR) team to implement. To help provide OR nurses with the skills needed to achieve this, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses’ (AORN) created the Nurse Executive Leadership Seminar (NELS) series.

From founding new nursing organizations to creating new cardiac surgery programs, Patricia “Trish” C. Seifert, MSN, RN, CNOR, FAAN, a perioperative cardiac surgery consultant from Falls Church, Va., has used her nursing background in many different ways. We had the chance to talk to her about her career, leadership, mentorship, and asking the important questions.