Safety First

For Carol Devlin ’16 BSN, RNFA, CNOR proper patient positioning in the OR and during transport is a must - for the safety of the patient and the perioperative team. Devlin’s urgency on the topic is based on her literature reviews and over 30 years in perisurgical nursing including practicing as a RN first assistant. In a specialty where success or failure can be measured in millimeters, data shows safety starts long before the patient is anesthetized.
 
A student in the master’s program with a concentration in nursing education, Devlin graduates in May. She was featured in an AORN online article preceding her March 27 podium presentation about patient positioning in the operating room, Positioning Pearls to Avoid Patient Pitfalls, that she co-presented at AORN’s Global Surgical Conference & Expo in New Orleans. She believes all nurses can use their voice to protect patients and staff with proper positioning through knowledge, assessment and awareness.

Devlin also presented Temporary Tobacco Cessation for the Perisurgical Timeframe: A Literature Review, based on her publication in October 2017 in AORN Journal. She co-authored it with Suzanne C. Smeltzer, EdD, RN, ANEF, FAAN, professor, Director of Office of Nursing Research and Evaluation, and the Richard and Marianne Kreider Endowed Professor in Nursing for Vulnerable Populations.     

                                                              
Devlin co-presented a third podium presentation RNFA Clinical and Legislative Case Studies. Additionally, she presented a poster Exploring Temporary Tobacco Cessation for the Perisurgical Time-frame co-authored with Dr. Smeltzer. She had exhibited the same poster at the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association annual meeting in October 2017.

While she is president of the Graduate Nurse Network at the Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, she also holds a leadership position in AORN as chair of the AORN Registered Nurse First Assistant (RNFA) SA (Speciality Assembly)  and is the current AORN Chesmont Chapter vice president.

Devlin enters the PhD program this summer to transition to a teacher-scholar and pursue an academic career.