AORN educufion

Planning your

chapter's workshop

AORN members do more than acknowledge the critical significance of continuing ed- ucation for nurses. They structure and im- plement workshops and institutes which are specifically designed to meet the educa- tional needs of operating room nurses. During the past year, the number of one day workshops sponsored by local chapter members has dramatically increased. The quality of such workshops intensified as members became more cognizant of the process whereby educational gwls and objectives are defined, a program theme i s selected, educational content i s deter- mined, and speakers are chosen.

Recently the planning guide manual for regional institutes was completely revised by staff members of AORN's Education De- partment. One entire section was devoted to the process of developing an effective educational program. Presently, this content has not been incorporated into the one day workshop manual. Because of the numerous requests by chapter members for assistance in developing the educational format of a workshop, the following guidelines have been delineated:

I . Select program chairman and commit- tee members. Carefully review the qualifi- cations of potential committee members.

2. Define the goals and obejctives of your educational program. Remember you are designing a program primarily for OR nurses.

3. Identify your program theme. Does the theme: reflect the workshop objectives; com- plement the educational content; reflect a crucial1 concern or problem facing the mem- bership; serve as a subject matter umbrella under which the majority of program ma- terial (75%-85%) can be encompassed; lend itself to inclusion in the material or comments offered by speakers and other program participants; lend itself to an eye catching and mind catching dedgn for a workshop logo; lend itself to "dramatiza- tion"; serve as a provocative catch phrase that members will remember; suggest either a personal or tangible goal; stimula?e imag- ination; suggest action?

4. Identify specific program content based on the needs of OR nurses within your geographic area. For example, program

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topics c o u I d encompass: revolutionary changes in OR nursing; legal aspects in OR nursing; specialization in the OR; principles of sterilization and bacteriology; commu- nication skills and human relations; staff development; management and supervision; new trends in surgery; infection control; re- search in OR nursing; preoperative and postoperative visits; teaching, learning and evaluating; national issues affecting nurs-

ing; problems and frustrations in the OR and their solutions; satisfaction of the needs of patients, surgeons, nurses and tech- nicians; or clinical sessions such as cOronary artery bypass.

5. Include program content which will ap- peal to all levels of OR nursing (staff nurses; educators; supervisors) and to OR nurses within diverse organizational struc- tures (small or large hospital; educational institution; private employment situation).

6. Consider program topics which enable speakers to utilize various teaching method- ologies or formats to stimulate audience in- volvement. Capitalize upon diversity, ie, role playing, demonstration of technique, action clinics or problem solving clinics, optional special subject workshops, simu- lated situations such as a mock trial to dem- onstrate OR nursing malpractice, discussion groups, drama, and so forth.

7. Coordinate the content of various pro- grams for smooth transition rather than fragmentation among sessions.

8. Balance the program so that "high in- terest" sessions are not directly competing with each other, relevant content i s pre- sented in each session, outstanding speak- ers are scheduled in each session and SO

forth.

9. Provide registrants a choice among several educational programs when pos- sible. Do not plan all general sessions.

10. Consider the space designated for the program sessions. Balance small and large programs to effectively utilize avail- able space.

11. Plan at least five contact hours of educational program content per workshop, if feasible. This time i s exclusive of time al- located for coffee breaks, luncheons, or social activities. Compliance with this di- rective enables you to award certificates or cards to registrants delineating name, date, and location of program as well as the number of contact hours devoted to ed- ucational content. This assists nurses in ful- filling some of the requirements necessary for certification and/or relicensure.

12. Gather information about potential speakers. Be sure your verbal inquiries are not interpreted as a formal invitation.

13. Select speakers. Consider resource people located within your geographic area to minimize expenses associated with travel and living arrangements, as well as to capitalize upon the existing potential of speakers at the local level. Definitely in- clude nursing speakers who can discuss the relevance of vurious theories, concepts, and beliefs in terms of their impact upon nurs- ing.

14. Do not prematurely invite speakers if there are concerns about their abilities to present meaningful content, their cred- ibility or reliability, and so forth.

15. Prepare a brief l is t of alternate speakers in the event speakers who are initially invited are unable to accept.

16. Select presiding officers and mod- erators, They should be people other than workshop general chairman, committee chairmen, or program committee members. Consider utilizing local AORN members holding a national office or committee ap- pointment, members of local AORN board

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of directors, local chapter officers, or local AORN members. Presiding officers and moderators should be competent in per- forming their duties as well as assertive in terms of setting the pace of the program session. Experience in public speaking is de- sirable.

17. Write an invitational letter on the chapter's official AORN stationery to each program speaker, moderator, and presid- ing officer as assigned by the program chairman. Each letter must be approved and signed by the program chairman.

18. Encourage speakers, presiding offi- cers and moderators to reply as soon as possible to the invitational letter. The dead- line for acceptances should be approx- imately three months in advance of the workshop to facilitate advance publicity and accurate printing of the final program.

19. Write invitations to special guests such as physicians, hospital administrators, outstanding nursing leaders, and student nurses as assigned by the program chair- man. Each letter must be approved and signed by the program chairman. NOTE: Ask other workshop committee chairmen to submit a list of names and addresses. Have the general chairman of the workshop ap- prove the final list of special guests before extending invitations to them. Notify the chairman of registration committee of the guests' names so they can be recorded as "no fee'' registrants.

20. Maintan a copy of each invitational letter for the program files.

21. Write a thank you letter to each spwker, moderator or presiding officer upon his written acceptance. For speak- ers, include a biographical data sheet and an audio visual needs form. For presiding officers alnd moderators, include a bio- graphical data sheet and a list of their po- tential responsibilities.

22. Prepare and type the final program draft two and one half months prior to workshop. Have the program printed.

23. Complete travel and hotel arrange- ments in writing with any speaker who is from a distant city or state. Give this in- formation to the general chairman of the workshop, who is ultimately responsible for hotel arrangements, and to the workshop treasurer for her information.

24. Give copies of biographical data sheets and audio visual needs forms, which have been completed by speakers, to the presiding officers and moderators for their information.

25. Give copies of the speakers' audio visual needs forms to the chairman of the monitorial committee so fact sheets can be compiled for the hotel.

26. During the workshop, attend pro- gram sessions to evaluate content, methods of presentation, effectiveness of program planning, and so forth. Submit written eval- uation(s) to program chairman for inclusion in her post workshop report.

27. After the workshop, write letters of appreciation to speakers regarding their educational contribution to the program. Individualize your comments whm possible so the speaker i s "uniquely" acknowledged.

Members can utilize the above guidelines as a broad framework for organizing and implementing original educational work- shops. Enthusiasm, commitment, and pro- ductivity are sti l l essential individual qual- ities which only local chapter members can contribute. If there is an interrelation of these factors, then successful educational programs will occur. 0

Carol Alexander, RN

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