Content area
Full text
Congress Education Sessions
SATURDAY, MARCH 13, TO THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2010
Education is the major focus of AORNs Congress, and nurses attend to learn new information and skills as well as earn con
tinuing education contact hours. This years sessions taught valuable lessons about patient safety, health care reform, innovative procedures and practice techniques, powerful education methods, and many other topics. In addition, AORN held its rst International Summit. Following are brief accounts of some of the sessions that were presented during the 57th annual Congress.
EMBRACING SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is the number one activity on the web and offers a way for users, including health care professionals, to connect with each other on a virtual platform. Zach Mueller, RN, DNP, CNS, chief nursing ofcer at the Medical Center of Aurora, Colorado, brought Congress attendees up to speed on established and emerging social media platforms during Nurses & Social Media: There is a Connection. Dr Mueller emphasized the importance of understanding generational differences as a key measure of success and urged attendees to embrace new technology (eg, social media) because it is transforming how we view, communicate, and identify with each other not only personally but also professionally.
Organizations use social media to share information about new products, services, and educational and employment opportunities. For example, the Medical Center of Aurora uses an internal blog on which employees can share their experiences that could be used for Magnet recognition. To protect the rights of patients, the blog is moderated to catch any patient information that may be inadvertently included in the submission.
Dr Mueller noted that AORN is embracing social media at Congress with the Congress Voices blog, tweets, and RSS news feeds. Other social media platforms mentioned during the session
include Meetup, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Google Buzz, LinkedIn, and NurseConnect. These media platforms are becoming so popular that 96% of people in Generation Y have joined a social network and one of eight married couples in the United States met via social media.
With each new generation, technology is introduced at an earlier and earlier age, which is creating more tech-savvy individuals who are able to learn and use new technology with greater ease. Dr Mueller said that individuals and organizations should focus...