by
Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter | March 27, 2014
From the March 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Rosemarie Schroeder, BSN, RN, CNOR, is board president of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses for 2013-2014.
As board president, Schroeder leads an association that provides resources to more than 160,000 perioperative nurses. Information delivered includes nursing education, standards and clinical practice resources to ensure that patients who undergo operative and other invasive procedures have the best outcomes. Schroeder’s duties will be passed on during the AORN show and conference, taking place at McCormick Place in Chicago from March 30 to April 2.
She spent some time talking to DOTmed HealthCare Business News about her background, the direction she hopes the association will go in and what to expect at the conference.
HCBN: You have a long, successful career in health care. How did you get started in the field?
RS: In high school I joined Future Nurses and I started looking into the nursing profession there. I tell people that my professional career has kind of chosen me more than I have chosen it. At nursing school, I went to the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, and my roommate’s mother happened to be an OR director, so that was my first introduction to this specialty of nursing. When I graduated, I started working in an inpatient unit first, but then I met my future husband in the hospital cafeteria. He was a surgical instrument sales representative and was calling on the OR supervisor. Later, through his contacts in the operating room, I was able to get hired into that department and I never left. I have worked in various facilities in several different roles in the operating room. I have been an educator, staff nurse, registered nurse first assistant, manager and director. I have had a long and happy career in the operating room. AORN has been a large part of my professional life from the time I entered the operating room as a young staff nurse.
HCBN: What goals have you completed during your term?
RS: We always have the goal of expanding the membership and our influence as a nursing specialty. We have opportunities for student nurses and hospital systems to be active members in AORN. We have developed modules of Periop 101, our online training program for novice nurses, to meet the needs of nurses working in other areas of the hospital where invasive procedures are performed. Our standards and recommended practices are our gold standard and in recent times, we have gone to evidence rating for them in order to gain credibility with regulatory agencies and other health care professionals that we collaborate with.
