2020 GORNA Board report
In 2019, GORNA organized a number of educational activities. As always, the annual national congress was the highlight of GORNA’s events. The 30th Panhellenic Congress on Perioperative Nursing was held at Ioannina, a beautiful city built around lake Pamvotida. More than 400 Perioperative Nurses from all around the country participated in the educational program and were accredited with 17 educational points from EORNA ACE.
Also, GORNA organized the 3rd cycle of the Postgraduate Program of Continuing Education on Perioperative Nursing, in cooperation with the Education Council of the Hellenic Surgical Society and the 3rd Surgical Clinic of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The program duration consisted of one day of lectures and one day of hands-on practice.
Furthermore, GORNA members participated in the 9th EORNA Congress (May 16-19, 2019, The Hague, Netherlands) with 2 oral and 8 poster presentations, one of which was distinguished among the 20 best posters (“Safety culture among health workers in pediatric operating rooms, Athens, Greece: an assessment through Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ)”).
Additional to its own educational activities, GORNA collaborates with many Panhellenic scientific associations in Greece and actively participates in their congresses with lectures, round tables, satellite symposiums and clinical seminars. Also, GORNA currently works in collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Health and specifically the National Council for the Development of Nursing in order to upgrade Nursing as a profession and a scientific field, as well as to achieve the official establishment of Perioperative Nursing Specialty. Additionally, GORNA participated in the pilot study of the Erasmus program “Key Skill Management in Operating Room” (KSMOR) for the validation of the respective tool. Also, GORNA has submitted a detailed proposal for the establishment of specific nursing specializations emphasized on perioperative nursing and on anesthesiology nursing, through an 18-month educational program.
Moreover, GORNA supported and achieved for nurses working in sterilization to be included as beneficiaries of a special paid leave, additional to their regular one, which has been provided to other nursing departments, such as the operating room, but not for sterilization until now.
For the year 2020, GORNA had organized to implement various Perioperative Nursing meetings in rural areas of Greece, in order to facilitate and enhance the scientific evidence-based knowledge of Perioperative Nurses all around the country. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our plans and perspective for the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, even under these new circumstances, GORNA is committed to continue its effort to stand by Perioperative Nurses in particular, but also Nursing professionals as a whole, in their demanding work. Consequently, we upheld the task to collect all the up-to-date and credible publications, guidelines and research findings mainly regarding protection measures, and send it via email to all our members. In this process, we have been in close contact and collaboration with the International Federation of Perioperative Nurses (IFPN), the European Operating Room Nurses Association (EORNA), the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists (IFNA) and the World Federation for Hospital Sterilisation Sciences (WFHSS), while at the same time we have been monitoring the actions and publications of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Hellenic National Public Health Organization (EODY).
Furthermore, since before the pandemic outbreak, GORNA has been in the process of translation and electronic publication of the “Position statements and guidelines for Perioperative Nursing Practice Part 1” in the Greek language. The specific manuscript is an EORNA publication and an official permission has been given to GORNA for its translation and electronic publication.
Additionally, GORNA’s greatest scientific event, the annual Panhellenic Congress on Perioperative Nursing, is held every year in October. However, this year’s Congress, namely the 31st, will probably have to be rearranged in light of the recent circumstances. Therefore, we are in discussions in order to organize it as a digital congress, if it is decided to be the best choice.
Last but not least, GORNA publishes the unique in Greece online scientific journal “Perioperative Nursing”, which is available in the Greek and English languages at www.spnj.gr. “Perioperative Nursing” is indexed in the following databases: EBSCO, CINAHL, GOOGLE SCHOLAR, ZENODO, HYPATIA, OPENAIRE, DataCite and Emcare.
Ioannis Koutelekos
RN, MSc, MBA, MEd, CSN, PhD
GORNA President
Αssistant Professor, Department of Nursing, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece
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