It Was Huge! Nursing Students' First Experience at AORN Congress

Byrne - Cantrell - Fletcher - McRaney - Morris JANUARY 2004, VOL 79, NO 1

It Was Huge! Nursing Students' First

Experience at AORN Congress Michelle Byme, RN; Kelly Cantrell; Daphne Fletcher; David McRaney;

Kelly Morris

ORN has many initiatives for attracting nursing students to A the field of perioperative nus-

ing. These include AORN student membership at a reduced rate, AORN Online web pages designed specifically for students, and free attendance at AORN Congress for currently enrolled nursing students. These strategies support students in their education and provide AORN members with the opportunity to mentor students into perioperative nursing, as well as involve them in a professional nursing association. Currently, AORN has 284 student members.

This article provides a background on mentoring and communicates the experiences of four first-year nursing students who attended Congress for the first time. An experiential knowledge of students' perspectives may enhance AORN's ability to recruit student nurses and aid future planning for student involvement in the Association.

MENTORING The national shortage of nurses

makes it imperative to attract students to the profession. One nursing student expressed her concern in a letter to the Online journal of Issues in Nursing. The student wrote,

in my limited experience, 1 feel the main concern is that many experi- enced nurses are reluctant to mentor nursing students and new graduates and promote a positive image of nursing. I f nurses would be more supportive of each other, especially if

seasoned nurses would be more supportive of nursing students and new graduates, more new graduafes might want to stay in nursing."'

Margaret Craig, RN, MS, chair of the American Nurses Association's Council for Professional Nursing, defines mentoring as "a nurturing relationship between professionals that is not con- fined to a place or limited by time."2 AORN members have the potential to mentor students on local, state, and national levels by encouraging attendance at chapter meetings, AORN education offerings, and the national Congress. Attending an AORN Con- gress provides students with a chance to encounter perioperative nursing professionals whose enthusiasm and love for their profession is infectious.

Mentoring is a mutual relationship in which both mentors and mentees share themselves. The student-instructor mentor relationship creates many avenues of

ABSTRACT 0 AN EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE of mentoring through nursing students' perspectives may enhance AORN's ability to recruit students to perioperative nursing and aid future planning for student involvement in the Association.

0 IN 2003, four first-year nursing students attended the AORN Congress in Chicago with their nursing instructor and mentor. The students' experiences were captured using a thematic analysis to analyze their journals.

0 THE FIVE COMMON THEMES identified were "it was huge," "exhibits," "student program," "exploring the city," and "suggestions for future planning." AORN J 79 (January 2004) 219- 223.

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possible growth and benefit to both parties. One student described a good mentor as "someone who possesses professional attributes, knowledge, good com- munication skills and the motivation to teach and support student^."^ (p1544)

Through a mentor relationship with an instructor, students gain increased confidence in the classroom, as well as the clinical arena, and improved access to information not only through the

A mentor relationship between a

student and an instructor is

rewarding for both parties. The students

gain knowledge and confidence,

while the instructor gains

satisfaction and pride.

mentor but also through professional associations outside of the academic arena. The mentor benefits by gaining pride, satisfaction, and the knowledge that he or she is making a difference for a novice nurse; developing management skills; and exploring new approach- es to mentoring and how to implement them?

A recent study docu- mented that

the student knowing the teacher was dependent, to a degree, on teachers' willingness to reveal themselves, and was supported by actions such as admitting falli- bility and engaging in dialogue. Students described coming to know teachers through "casu- al, everyday" conversa- tions about nursing and non-nursing topics, by observing teachers' in- teractions with others, and listening to their -

practice-related stories. In these ways, the teacher emerged as a person and a

This process leads to the humanization of the instructor and enables students to relate more easily to faculty members in a clinical environment.

Attending a national conference together provides an excellent opportunity for students and instructors to reveal themselves and engage in dia-

logue. By removing themselves from the classroom and clinical sites, both parties are afforded the opportunity to let down their guard and be more open. Engaging in dialogue reveals the personal side of the instructor to the student, allowing both to become more comfortable with each other. A new level of understanding and comfort allows the mentor to better meet the needs of the student, focus on the student's interests, and anticipate and help relieve any anxiety the student may have. Dialogue lays the groundwork for a more meaningful and lasting relationship between the student and the mentor?

PORTRAIT OF INSTRUCTOR AND STUDENTS The nursing instructor who initiated

this project is a long-time member of AORN. She has served on the Membership Committee and has been involved in recruiting students and new members. She regularly communicates chapter and national offerings to students. AORN involvement is optional but encouraged in her students.

The student group involved in the project is composed of four student members of AORN who are studying nursing at a state university in the Southeast. All four students are European American. Three of the students are female and one is male. The group studied and performed clinical rotations for one year together. The students are between 25 and 30 years of age. Two are single, one is engaged, and one is married with one child. One student has an associate's degree from a state university and another has a bach- elor's degree from a private university.

Group members have different back- grounds and varying levels of health- related training and education. The group consists of one patient care technician, one certified nursing assistant, one emer- gency room secretary, and one person employed in a field unrelated to health care. These four students were enrolled in a second semester class in nursing funda- mentals. Three of the four students were enrolled in a one-credit elective leader- ship class for which attendance at professional meetings was encouraged and reflected in the course grade.

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PROCEDURE FOR COMMUNICATING EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE

Approximately one month before Congress, the instructor asked if the five of her students who planned to attend Congress would each keep a journal with the purpose of writing an article for publication. This project was optional, and four of the five students eagerly agreed to participate. Each of these students kept a journal for the period of time surrounding Congress 2003 and then shared their journal entries with one another.

The instructor and the students used a thematic analysis to communicate the journals’ contents. The students were encouraged to look for common topics among journal entries. The strategies for the thematic analysis were based on qualitative method; suggested by number of researchers.H

a

Making something of a text or a lived experience by interpreting its meaning is more accurately a process of insightful invention, discovery, or disclosure-grasping, and formulat- ing a thematic understanding is not a rule-bound process but afree act of “seeing” meaning.8 (P’~)

Three of the students and the instructor met and negotiated agreements on the labeled themes that are presented in this article. The student who could not be present received the themes and provided consensus with the findings. The results of this thematic analysis address the purpose of this article-to describe first-year nursing students’ experiences du&g their firscCongress. -

THEMES SURROUNDING STUDENTS‘ EXPERIENCE OF CONGRESS

Five themes were identified in student journal entries. These were 0 it washuge, 0 exhibits, 0 student program, 0 exploring the city, and

the

0 suggestions for future planning. IT WM HUGE. The students’ first impres-

sions of Congress were exemplified by the theme “it was huge.” The students had not expected the largeness of

McCormick Place in Chicago, the huge number of people, and the scope of the Association. One student wrote, ”I did not realize how big AORN was. It is unbelievably huge. There are thousands of people compared to the hundreds that I thought.”

After attending speaker Ross Perot’s session, a student wrote, “I was surprised to see how many people were in the room, it was packed!” Another commented, -“If it dasn’t for the big screen TV, I would never have been able to see him!”

EXHIBITS. Consistent with the first theme, the students were surprised at the number of exhibitors and the size of the exhibit hall. One student wrote,

W e just walked around from booth to booth listening to exhibitors talk about their products. I t was very educational; we got a bunch offree stuff too. We got tote bags, umbrellas, pens, calcula- tors, stufed animals and one booth was giving ouf money. 1 got about $11. W e learned about difu- ent job opportunities, such as travel nursing; educational possibilities; antibacterial agents; and

The students kept journals

detailing their Congress

experience, and then the

students and their instructor

determined common themes from among the journal entries.

new technolo&, such as the harmonic scalpel. It uses ultrasound waves instead of electricity. The whole day was very educational.

Another student wrote,

I hit the back section and talked to a lot of recruiters. It was a great chance as a student to see what is available around the country and close to home. W e actually had a number of local hospitals represented. Having a chance to meet all the recruiters was worth the trip by itself.

A third student commented,

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JANUARY 2004, VOL 79, NO 1 Byrne - Cantrell - Fletcher - McRaney - Morris

(From left) Daphne

Fletcher, Kelly Morris,

and Kelly Cantrell leave the Congress

exhibit hall loaded down

with give- aways from

vendors.

We spent the next couple of hours talking to vendors and looking at equipment. We got to use cautey equipment. The Johnson and Johnson rep explained the principal of cauter- ization and let us all have a go at it! I love hands-on things, so it was nice to get to do something. Now, the great thing of the day was all thefree gifts. There were bags and bags of things we could have! The reps were so nice to us. They were ve y inform- ative. And once they heard we were students, they explained in so much more detail.

STUDENT PROGRAM. The third theme was about a much-anticipated even-the student program. One student wrote,

Student Day was fun and very educational, except the parts about patient safety and aseptic technique because we already knew eve ything that they talked about. The day start- ed with a speaker who talked about

(Far left) Kelly Cantrell practices electrosurgery on an orange, while (new left) an instructor helps David McRaney and Daphne Fletcher perform a skin prep during the hands-on student session.

aseptic technique. Then they talked about electrosurgey and patient safety. Later in the afternoon, we got to perform hands-on things, such as preparing a sterilejield and prepping a patient for surgery. We were sup- posed to be able to perform gowning and gloving, but the gowns and gloves didn’t arrive in time. They said they were stuck in the blizzard in Colorado on a truck. This was ve y disappointing, but what can you do? All in all it was a great day.

Another student wrote,

The hands-on [sessions] were great. We practiced prepping and had a great discussion on OR fires and their causes. The two nurses instructing us were very impressed by how well we did.

EXPLORING THE UTY. Rest and relaxation also is a big aspect of the annual Congress, and the students’ journals were full of descriptions of sightseeing. For some of these students, this was their first visit to Chicago, their first air- plane trip, or their first experience trav- eling outside of the southeastern United States, so they used their recreation time wisely. The students went to museums, to the top of the Sears tower, to the House of Blues, out to dinner, shopping on the Magruhcent Mile, and to the Shedd Aquarium. At the aquarium, they were asked to be in a commercial advertising the aquarium, which enabled them to see a not yet opened shark exhibit. On the last day, a student wrote, ”For lunch, the girls went to a pizza joint. I had a Chicago, deep-dish pizza pie. Boy, it was great. Nothing is better than pizza and an ice-cold beer. ”

SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE PLANNING. The final theme addressed in the journals was the students’ specific ideas and suggestions to enhance the student

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experience at Congress. Specifically, students suggested that at future Congresses, AORN should offer

a student night party; a student lunch instead of a student breakfast; more hands-on activities during the student program; more in-depth teaching sessions for students; different classes relating to the level of education of the students (eg, first year, second year); sessions on the benefits of being a perioperative nurse compared to other specialties; sessions explaining the different positions and roles of a perioperative nurse (eg, circulator, postanesthesia care unit nurse, RN first assistant); and student activities throughout Con- gress week, not concentrated on just one day.

CONCLUSION AORN Congress provided a forum

for mentoring nursing students. Infor- mal relationships, as well as formal opportunities, enabled students to gain knowledge of nursing and perioperative nursing. The students were able to observe their instructor in a professional environment outside the classroom. In addition, they witnessed AORN's industry partners advocating for patient care. The opportunity also facil- itated mentoring students to write an article for publication. These students will graduate with a lived experience of professionalism and involvement in nursing associations. 9

Michelle M. Byme, RN, PhD, CNOR, is an associate professor of nursing, North Georgia College and State University, Dahlonega, Ga.

Kelly Cantrell, is a nursing student at North Georgia College and State University, Dahlonega, Ga.

Daphne Fletcher, AD, is a nursing student at North Georgia College and State University, Dahlonega, Ga.

David McRaney, BBA, is a nursing student at North Georgia College and State University, Dahlonega, Ga.

Kelly Morris, is a nursing student at North Georgia College and State University, Dahlonega, Ga.

NOTES 1. J Hamilton, "Response by Jessica Hamilton on 'Nursing shortage: Not a sim- ple problem-No easy answers,"' (Letter) Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (Ma 20, 2002) http://www.nursingworld.org/ojinLt ters/tl4el7.htm (accessed 5 Nov 2003). 2. S Trossman, "Mentoring leads to meaningful relationships, professional growth. 'I'm ok, you're ok-really."' The American Nurse 30 (March/Aprill998). Also available from Nursin World, http://www.nurs i n g w o r l d . o r g / t a n / 9 ~ ~ r a ~ r ~ e a t u y e ~ . ~ t m (accessed 5 Nov 2003). 3. M A Gray, L N Smith, "The qualities of an effective mentor from the student nurse's perspective: Findings from a longitudinal qualitative study," Journal of Advanced Nursing 32 (December 2000) 1542-1549. 4. M Gillespie, "Student-teacher connection in clinical nursing education," Journal of Advanced Nursing 37 (March 2002) 566-576. 5. M Catanzaro, "Using qualitative analytic techniques," in Nursin Research: The0 y and

Louis: Mosby, 1988). 6. N L Diekelmann, "Learning-as-testing: A Heideggerian hermeneutical analysis of the lived experiences of students and teachers in nursing," Advances in Nursing Science 14 (March 1992) 72-83. 7. Y Lincoln, E Guba, Naturalistic Inquiry (Beverly Hills, Calif: Sage Publications, 1985). 8. M Van Manen, Researching Lived Experience: Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy (Alban Ny: State University of New York Jkss, 1990).

Practice, ed N Woods, fi Catanzaro (St

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It Was Huge! Nursing Students' First Experience at AORN Congress