I frequently attend nursing conferences, including AORN, OR Manager, and AORN Chapter Conferences. They are so much fun! In October, I attended the Periop ConneCT conference in New Haven, Connecticut. It was an incredible conference, and I was honored to be selected as a speaker for this event. I’m going to give you a photo dump of my weekend at the conference, and I hope it convinces you to attend next year! I promise, if you attend you won’t regret it!

Nursing Conferences = Education

This conference offered 2 educational sessions on Friday night, and then an entire day of sessions on Saturday. We had a morning keynote and an afternoon keynote, and then there were different options to choose from for the other sessions. And there was food, lots and lots of yummy food – and who doesn’t like to eat?!

I gave a presentation called Going Beyond Opioids: Redefining Pain Management and I really enjoyed getting to share about the benefits of opioid sparing surgery, regional anesthesia, and complementary therapies that we can use alongside traditional care. My presentation is available online to watch if you want to check it out. You can watch it here.

This year, the conference was approved for Nursing, Surgical Tech, AND Sterile Processing CEs! Hopefully, the same is true next year, and I hope I see EVERYBODY from surgical services attending, learning, networking, and having fun together.

Nursing Conferences = Vendors

One of the fun parts of my job with First Case is that I have gotten to meet so many different vendors and I’ve learned so much about the great products out there making surgery better and safer. I saw many familiar faces during the Vendor Fair at Periop ConneCT, and it’s always fun to connect in person with the people I only see online in meetings.

Nursing Conferences = Connection

It’s cool to learn about the latest and greatest in our profession, whether it’s during educational sessions or by talking to vendors about their products. But, even better than that, is the opportunity to just hang out with people and connect! (See what they did with the name Periop Connect??)

My involvement with AORN has connected me with nurses from around the world, and attending conferences helps me to see the people that I know, and meet new people as well. It’s networking at its finest, for sure. But it’s more than just meeting people for the sake of that professional connection. So many of the people that I have met have become dear friends of mine as well, and I always enjoy the time I get to spend with them at these events.

We had nursing students, too!

During dinner on Friday night, I was sitting at a table with 3 nursing students. First, I was pleasantly surprised to see nursing students at a conference for perioperative professionals! Second, as I talked to them, I learned something about their training that made me just a little jealous.

So get this – the students told me that they were able to do an internship in the operating room during the summer, and they were taught scrubbing and circulating. They don’t graduate until May 2025, but they already have OR exposure and the opportunity to work in the OR as an aid until graduation! How cool is that? And once they graduate, there will be a job for them in the OR if they want it. Incredible! I wish we had more of these programs out there to expose nursing students to the operating room.

Learning doesn’t have to be boring…

I really do enjoy attending nursing conferences, even if all of the activity wipes me out by the end of it! I definitely had fun at Periop ConneCT conference, but I also came back more educated and with an increased awareness about issues relevant to the operating room. I’m already planning to be there next year. Will you be there, too?

Keep learning, keep connecting, and keep it fun.

Until next time,
Melanie