Welcome!
Welcome to the NIFA Surgical E-News – a new, monthly newsletter sent to NIFA’s students, graduates, and the extended perioperative community. Please let us know what topics you’d like to read more (or less) about. If you’d like to write something to be considered for a future issue, see below.
We know you’re busy and we respect your time, so we plan to keep each issue short, useful, and to the point. Email us and let us know how we’re doing.
Julie Lancaster, Editor
Medical Mission to the Philippines
Imagine being the RNFA to a world-renowned surgeon, assisting in more then 150 surgeries over the course of 18 days and getting to experience an exotic country and culture at the same time.
Jennifer Curran, RN, CNOR, CRNFA, and NIFA instructor, accompanied Dr. Glenn Geelhoed, Professor of International Medicine at George Washington University, and other team members on a medical mission to the southern Philippines. The trip was sponsored by Medical Ministry International in Allen, Tex.; NIFA underwrote Jennifer’s participation.
“I lost count of how many goiters were done on the first day of surgery, but we had three tables going at once,” says Curran, who works as a self-employed CRNFA in Savannah, Ga.
“Along with [huge] goiters, we did cleft palates, cleft lips, hydroceles, and hernias. These patients wake up with a smile on their faces and lots of thank yous and hugs!”
Read the whole story: Medical Mission – Jennifer Curran – 1-24-08
RNFA Tips
Would you like to know what is going on in your state affecting RNFAs — on a legislative basis?
It’s easy! Just go to the legislative map at the AORN site and click on your state to see current laws and regulations plus the latest legislative developments concerning perioperative nursing and surgical safety.
AORN’s Director of Government Affairs does a wonderful job of keeping this site up to date. It’s a great resource.
And, if you have any state news you would like to share with our readers, please send it to us!
Do You Have a Surgical Story or Article for this Newsletter?
This is your opportunity to reach thousands of colleagues within the field of perioperative nursing. Each edition of this newsletter is emailed to thousands of NIFA contacts and is available to anyone who visits us online.
Send us your ideas for consideration:
- educational articles (unlimited word count) – subject matter relevant to RNFAs.
- short personal essays (200-300 words) – the story of a challenging surgery, a funny experience in the O.R., how you learned to work with a difficult surgeon (may be anonymous, if you prefer!), weighing RNFA career choices (self-employment vs. working for a hospital or surgeon), and more.
- profiles – if there’s someone you think we should profile, shoot us a quick email and let us know.
- If you’d like to contribute to the newsletter, please collect your thoughts and email them to us.