Celebrating our value—the message in our eyes

AORN Journal,  Jan, 2005  by William J. Duffy

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The logo for the 52nd AORN Congress includes a perioperative nurse who is looking down at a patient about to go under anesthesia. The nurse s eyes are gentle and reassuring. They seem to be smiling. This act of reaching out to a patient in a moment of need, like so many acts in nursing, may seem small, but it is one of the most important acts we perform for our patients. I value the importance of this act so much that I chose it as a symbol to represent the value we bring to surgical patients.

Earning Patient Trust

Every patient who enters the OR is making a leap of faith. Patients' friends, family members, clothing, and valuables all are removed, and patients are surrounded by people wearing strange clothing in a cold, highly technical environment. For many patients, this may be the first time in their lives they truly feel alone. The only person the patient may know is the surgeon, who he or she might have met once or twice before. Everyone else is a stranger, and as far as the patient is concerned, all these strangers are busy carrying out their tasks.

All patients can do is trust that the strangers on their health care team are competent and caring enough to do their best to help correct whatever ails the patient. Patients do not know what problems or challenges team members are bringing to work or what kind of mood they are in. All patients know is that they are about to turn over control of their lives and future to us. Imagine what those few minutes before anesthesia must be like for patients. They know they are about to go to sleep, and although they hope for the best, they are aware that there is a possibility they will not wake up. Those moments right before anesthesia must be filled with anxiety.

Just when patients are feeling the most vulnerable, however, a perioperative nurse steps forward and gently touches them, smiles with kind eyes, and says something reassuring. Imagine how comforting that must be for patients. This act of pausing and focusing on patients sends a subtle message that everything will be OK and that the nurse is there to watch over them at a time when they truly need someone to care. As a well-known commercial would say, this act is "priceless."

The Value of Education and Leadership

The symbol of the eyes looking over the mask represents a clinical example of the value of perioperative nurses, but I want to note that nurses in education and leadership bring equal value to the profession and our patients. I believe that our colleagues in leadership and education nurture their nursing colleagues so those colleagues can provide better care to patients. If a nursing leader can create an environment that helps a clinical nurse avoid being distracted by working conditions, pay issues, or quantities of supplies and equipment, that leader has created an environment that allows clinical nurses to dedicate their energy to the needs of the patient.

Nursing is a wonderful art that as a whole connects nursing acts into a stream of caring directed ultimately to the patient. In this stream, strong leaders or educators touch the lives of their patients by touching the lives of their colleagues. I am sure that if we looked, we would see that they accomplish their practice with the same reassuring eyes as those of clinical nurses looking at their patients.

Appreciating Value

Choosing the simple act of focusing on the patient as a symbol also sends a message that value is demonstrated in many ways. Every day, perioperative nurses touch the future by practicing their profession. Sometimes the value of our work is lost in the hustle and bustle of dealing with the challenges before us. We all know it is easy to lose sight of the effect we have because there always are things we need to do.

Value is like a piece of art; sometimes we have to stop and appreciate it to see its beauty and be moved by its passion. Do you pause and appreciate the value you bring? At the end of every day, I try to pause and appreciate the effect I have had on those I touched through my practice. I admit that some days it is easier than others to find and enjoy my value, but I believe it is those moments of appreciation that help me face a new set of challenges the next day.

My point is that appreciating value has to start within each of us. Having an internal sense of the value we bring provides us with a foundation to engage in discussions about the environment in which we practice. Having a sense of inner value reduces our need to compete with others around us and opens the door for listening to different points of view. If you believe you belong at the decision table, then you do not need to spend your energy trying to prove to everyone you belong there. Having a sense of belonging or ownership is key to participating in developing solutions to the challenges in our work environment or our profession.

Shaping Health Care

It is clear to me that our profession and patients will suffer if perioperative nurses feel they do not have the power or the position to shape the health care environment. We need to be able to share our expertise and create a better environment in the OR and perioperative nursing. We can do that only if we have a strong sense of the value we bring and the power we possess.