Michelle Reardon - ACORN

1. ACORN
Supporting the Perioperative Team and
Future Directions
Michelle Reardon
QLD ACORN Director & Standards Committee Chair
RN BN MN

2. What Are We
The Australian College of Perioperative Nurses
(ACORN) is a registered health promotion charity
that serves the patient, the community and the
perioperative profession to promote the prevention
and control of disease.

3. Who Are We?
PNAQ – Perioperative
Nurses of Queensland
OTA – Operating
Theatre Association
ACORN
Tasmania
Victorian Perioperative
Nurses Group
South Australian
Perioperative Nurses
Association
Northern Territory
Perioperative Nurses
Association Incorporated
Operating Nurses
Association of
Western Australian
ACORN

4. Who Are We - Board

5. Volunteer Board
Freddie East

6. Staff and Honorariums

7. Key Priority Areas

8. Our Vision
•ACORN’s vision is for Australian
patients to receive the safest, highest
quality perioperative care in the world.

9. Expenses at a glance

10. Memberships

11. The People Have Spoken
•2016 – Members Survey
•2017 – New Members Survey
•2017 – Non Members Survey

12. Standards for Perioperative
Nursing in Australia
Publishing evidence-based ‘best practice’ standards for
perioperative services reviewing these standards
regularly.
4 revised / new standards per year
Electronic and printed platforms
Exploring collaborative opportunities with international
partners
Standards Faculty and Committee with combined >60
volunteers

13. Standards for Perioperative
Nursing in Australia

14. Standards FAQs &
Standards Queries
•Electronic page for Frequently Asked Questions
•Sub committee dedicated to helping perioperative
nurses navigate the Standards for individual
application.

15. Journal of Perioperative
Nursing in Australia
Aim:
To attract, review and
publish high quality
perioperative nursing
research which translates
to:
o Improved patient
outcomes
o Enhanced
perioperative practice

16. Journal of Perioperative
Nursing in Australia
Objectives
•Increase the journal rankings
•Source of prestige for the college
•Increased national and international presence
•Attract a higher quantum of quality articles
•Increase journal accessibility
•Use an online journal platform with readership evaluation metrics
•Increase indexation across databases (e.g. EBSCOHost, Medline)
•Adopt search-engine optimisation strategies (e.g. DOI)

17. Achieving the Objectives
for the Journal
• Citations; citations; citations (New JPNA articles cite
existing JPNA articles)
• Promote the journal (nationally and internationally) when
it is ranked in the Top 50% within its categories to attract
increased publication submissions
o Medical and Surgical Nursing
o Advanced and Specialised Nursing
• Ensure it is indexed in the most popular databases to
support research access and dissemination

18. Education for all

19. Webinars
Somewhere in Victoria
Comfort of
your home
Or a night out with some friends

20. Some Topics Thus Far…

21. Member Feedback
Love, love, love, this type of education; straight to the
point and an excellent presenter. Not so easy for us
country folk to get to education in the city. This is a perfect
way to see that we are keeping up with current practices.
Thank you so much for providing this educational service.
Member East Grampians Health Service, Victoria
As always well worth listening to you from the comfort of
my own couch!!
Member Mersey Community Hospital Tasmania

22. Post Graduate Studies
A 2006 a perioperative workforce report highlighted a decline in
perioperative nurses undertaking postgraduate qualifications from 32%
in 1997 to 29% in 2003; attributing this decrease in enrolment to the
educational move from hospital to the university sector with the
associated increased costs for students and reduction in access
(Australian Health Workforce Advisory Committee 2006).
There is now growing evidence to establish a link between, the quality
of patient care, the level of qualification and expertise of the nurses,
and patient outcomes (Gillespie et al. 2011).
Further Australian research conducted in 2014 looked at 10 different
metropolitan hospitals and reported only 21% of the perioperative
nurses had postgraduate perioperative nursing qualifications (Duff et
al. 2016).

23. UTAS Partnership
ACORN has partnered with the University of Tasmania to
offer a postgraduate nursing program with specialisations
in:
•Perioperative Nursing
•Anaesthetics
•Recovery Nursing
Members of ACORN can study these specialisations and
receive a full scholarship on HECS fees.
Note: This partnership is not exclusively offered to UTAS

24. Course Accreditation
By accrediting an educational program, ACORN
provides formal recognition of the quality of the
program, demonstrating that the requirements
developed by the College have been met.
Currently programs are accredited by ACORN

25. Conference 2018

26. Conference 2018

27. MLALC
Members and Local Associations Liaison Committee
•New committee
•10 members on committee
•International Nurses Week - Poster
•LA Presidents – Membership Workshop
•Perioperative Nurses Week 2017

28. PNW 2016
• A logo to brand the campaign and for members to use
• A poster, inserted into 4500 copies of the spring journal and available from the
ACORN website
• A car sticker, mailed to 4500 members with the spring journal
• Media coverage including:
•The Age (Saturday 1 October);
•2UE in Sydney
•Radio National interviewed Dr Jed Duff
•3AW in Melbourne interviewed Dr Paula Foran;
•Health Times and Sunday Life magazines
•Sunshine Coast TV.
•Four competitions that resulted in tremendous member engagement and social
media activity

29. Other Member Benefits
•Discounts with Elsevier
•ACORN Corporate QANTAS Club Rates

30. Future Proposals
Members Advantage
Discounts for ACORN members
Guild Professional Indemnity Insurance

31. Fellowships
•ACORN Fellows are special members who have made a
significant contribution to the goals of the College and
perioperative nursing or demonstrated professional
excellence.
•Fellowship is also awarded to those nurses who receive
the individual Excellence in Perioperative Nursing (EiPN)
award and to people who have given the Judith Cornell
Oration (JCO) and are not already Fellows.

32. Fellowships
•There are currently 43 fellows of the college.
•We encourage all members to apply.
•Details can be found on the Fellowship page of our site.

33. Promotion of
Perioperative Nursing
•Collaboration has commenced with many national
and state bodies relating to health care.
•The aim of the Partnership and Censors Committee
is to foster ties with professional organisations in
an effort to promote the role of the perioperative
nurse and ACORN as the professional college for
this co-hort.
•This committee is only new however is gaining
momentum.

34. Supporting Nurses
Supporting Families
Call:1800 667 877

35. Become involved
•Interested in how you could become involved:
•Nominate for a committee
•Nominate for a special events committees such as PNW
2017
•Join your local association committee
•Make yourself known generally to your local association
for special projects / events
•Most meetings are held on the internet so no need to
travel

36. Promote ACORN
•Promote ACORN in your workplace
•Encourage your colleges to join their local
association
•Like our Facebook Page
•Follow us on Twitter
•Share your e-blasts with your colleges