By James X. Stobinski
I would like to speak on intradisciplinary collaboration in surgery. Previously, I mentioned the Association of Anesthesia Clinical Directors (AACD) meeting held in March in Orlando, Florida. The demand for surgery and staffing issues across specialties were frequent topics of discussion at that meeting and also for my recent columns. This month, I would like to share my experience at the recent AACD meeting as a perioperative nurse.
The AACD has existed since 1988. The purpose of the society, “ … is to provide a forum for anesthesiologists whose primary responsibility is operating room management.”(AACD, 2023) I am familiar with anesthesia doctors, and nurse anesthetists, actively managing the work of the OR from my service in the Navy Nurse Corps. For the period of 2004-2007, I worked in close partnership with Dr. Boyle at Naval Medical Center San Diego to run that busy OR. Boyle and I forged an effective partnership but not every OR has that leadership structure.
As in San Diego, anesthesia leaders who work as clinical directors focus on, “… operating room efficiency, productivity and cost containment … ”(AACD, 2023). This is the important business aspect of surgical services which is an absolute necessity as reimbursement for surgical care changes. The LinkedIn page for the AACD speaks to the association and its meetings as a place to, “… share ideas with colleagues, meet anesthesiologists who have more experience than they in this area, and share in a common forum for the discussion of problems.” The association’s members strive to use dialogue to discuss common issues and share solutions.
I was invited to speak at the meeting and to the best of my knowledge I was the only nurse and the only non-physician speaker. A welcoming and collegial atmosphere was pervasive at the meeting and my short presentation was well received. What impressed me as I think back on the experience is that this meeting, and the interaction with the anesthesiologists, is that this venue is the epitome of the intradisciplinary collaboration which is often talked about but not always easy to achieve.
Perioperative leaders are faced with some very significant challenges with changing reimbursement patterns and widespread staffing shortages. In my presentation, I stressed what perioperative nurses bring to the leadership dynamic and how the various disciplines can, and must, now work together. Working within new, collaborative leadership models is a change for some of us who have been perioperative nurses for decades. This change in perspective and governance models is a difficult but necessary transition. A perioperative nurse leader now often works with a team of senior leaders to direct the work of a large operating room. Some of those intradisciplinary teams include finance and supply chain staff and in larger academic centers it may also include a doctor, likely a surgeon, and an anesthesia provider such as the AACD members in Orlando.
This meeting allowed me to see the work of the operating room from the lens of anesthesia providers with an operational focus. In Orlando, I met with the editor of a perioperative services text about the possibility of writing in that publication and with the editor of Perioperative Care and Operating Room Management (PCORM); an international publication for which I now do article reviews. These are real life examples of interdisciplinary collaboration with meaningful results. For nurses, venturing out of your comfort zone to non-nursing meetings can be informative and professionally enriching. I urge you to consider such events with other disciplines which could open new professional opportunities and broaden your perspective.
– James X. Stobinski, Ph.D., RN, CNOR, CNAMB(E), CSSM(E), is the director of education at the National Institute of First Assisting.
References: Association of Anesthesia Clinical Directors (AACD) (2023), linkedin.com/company/association-of-anesthesia-clinical-directors/about/
