Newsletter

BLADES FROM THE DESERT NEWSLETTER

AUGUST 2009

Accolades and Achievements

The Arizona State Assembly would like to recognize the following for their accomplishments and contributions to the world of Surgical Technologists:

Elections

Elections will be held at the Annual Meeting on October 24^th, immediately following the workshop. There are 5 positions available, and each serve a two-year term, candidates must have a current membership and be certified, candidates are expected to attend all meetings.  Positions available are:

President- Presides over all meetings, is responsible for overall operations of the state assembly, helps set the date of meetings, over sees workshops, and serves on all committees; primary contact for all questions regarding the association and state assembly.

Vice President- Acts in the president’s place, if the president is not present and is in constant communication with the president.

Treasurer- Receives all funds, keeps accurate records, and writes an annual report to turn into the national office.

Board Member (2 positions available) - Assist in determining date and time of meetings, chair standing committees.

For more details and a further description of each position, please go to our website.  If you are interested in running for a position, please contact the AZSA secretary.

Upcoming Events

National Surgical Technologist Week- September 20-26, 2009.

State Assembly Workshop “Trick or Treat”

Saturday, October 24^th at Pima Community College, Desert Vista Campus, Ocotillo Room, 5901 S. Calle Santa Cruz, Tucson 85709.  Registration from 7:30- 8:00am; Presentations from 8:00am- 4:00pm.

Board Meeting- December 2009 to be held in the Phoenix area, date and time TBA.

Post Program Update

This year celebrated the 40^th anniversary of the AST National Conference.  The conference was held over three days in Las Vegas in May and AZSA was well represented.  Eight current and one past officer and board members attended, and seven of those also attended a leadership forum held prior to the conference. Dozens of Educational Sessions were available to choose from, and included topics such as new forms of plastic surgery, proper sharps handling, single-port laparoscopies, robotics, breast surgeries, Neuro-surgery, as well as many more subjects. An exhibition of surgical products and information was also presented.  Various State Assemblies were present with fundraising activities as well as hospital and professional recruiters.   

Delegate Article

Karena Starr, BS CST, is a member of the board of directors and was one of the delegates at this year’s National Conference, as a delegate she wrote a report about her experience. 

Nothing Like the First Time!

Attending Conference for the first time this year in Las Vegas was an exciting experience for me!  It was the perfect time, as everyone was looking back at the rich 40 year heritage of our organization, and looking forward to the progress we will continue to make in the future.  I’m excited to be a part of such a great, talented, diverse group of professionals across the country who is devoted to their education and their patients.  Conference really opened my eyes to the great opportunities that we have as surgical technologists to serve each other.

On Monday and Tuesday, May 25-26, I attended the State Assembly Leadership Forum.  I quickly realized that I was one of the “greenies” of the group, as most of the other members had been on their state assembly boards for years.  But on Monday, as we split into round tables for discussions, this wasn’t so much overwhelming as extremely helpful.  I learned so much from the delegates from Texas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Tennessee, and other states, as we discussed in detail the duties of the state assembly officers and board members.  This was probably the most beneficial part of the whole week for me, because it really helped me understand AST and how it works, and my role in AZ-AST.  On Tuesday, the following presentations were given :

·         Membership & Recruitment – Chris Lee

·         How to Plan a Career Day – Karen Silvis

·         Effective Communication – Michelle Rey

·         Financial Security – Jean Turner

·         Legislation & Public Policy – Catherine Sparkman

 I was particularly impressed by Chris Lee & Catherine Sparkman.

            Over the next three days, May 27-29, I attended educational sessions on topics ranging from “Abdominal Injuries in Trauma” to the “Trials & Tribulations of Opening a New O.R.” to “The Organ Procurement Operation: Participating in the Gift of Life.”  Some of the presenters were interesting, some were more entertaining than others, but I learned something new in each of them.

            One of my favorite sessions was a presentation by Dr. Gary Hartman, MD.  His lecture was “Conjoined Twins – Surgical Challenges.”  Dr. Hartman spoke about the different types of conjoined twins, the history, and the planning that goes into a separation surgery.  He is famous for successfully separating five pairs of conjoined twins, and he showed us video footage from one of these surgeries.  VERY COOL!

            I also enjoyed the closing featured speaker of the conference, Capt. Stephen Harden.  His presentation was called “Soaring over the Safety and Quality Chasm: Using Aviation’s Best Practices to Improve Patient Safety and Quality of Health Care.”  Capt. Harden talked about how the airline industry had to make major changes in its culture to improve safety and reliability, and how we as health care professionals can translate that to our scope of practice to have better outcomes in our patient care.  He drew some very interesting, and very real parallels, and did it in a creative way.

            Overall, my experience at Conference was exciting, inspiring, educational, fun, and more than I imagined I would find at AST.  Nothing like the first time!!!

Education Report

The Education Committee would like to offer scholarships for students to attend the Annual Workshop.  A total of 5 scholarships would be available and distributed to 1 student from each accredited surgical tech program throughout the state.  Students will be chosen by their program, and after completing the workshop each student is expected to prepare and present a report to their program as well as send a copy to AZSA.