Education Session Guidelines

Our education activities are based on current issues and trends related to perioperative nursing practice, education, patient care management, leadership, management of the perioperative arena, evidence-based practice, and research.

Sessions held at different events have varying requirements and vary in length. You may choose one or more conferences and categories for which you wish your submission to be reviewed.

Note:

If you have a submission for a 90-minute session and a similar proposal for a half- or full-day session, please submit them separately.

Deadlines 

The online application submission process is open year-round, but submission deadlines vary.

• Congress deadline – end of May for the following year (ex. 5/30/12 for 2013 Congress)
• Pre-Congress Intensive Workshops deadline – end of May for the following year (ex. 5/30/12 for 2013 Congress)
• Specialty conferences – deadlines vary; proposals are pulled on an as-needed basis.

Congress Education Session Information 

• Our annual AORN Congress is our largest event with the widest variety of session topics. The Congress proposal submission deadline is May 30 each year. Submissions received after that date are reviewed and considered for the following year.
• Concurrent education sessions at Congress are 90 minutes in length.
• Two-part presentations may be considered when noted as such.
• Proposals submitted for presentation may also be submitted as poster/abstract sessions.
• Standard audio/visual equipment will be supplied for each presentation. Additional AV requests cannot be granted.
• Congress presentations are professionally recorded, and will be made available for sale with the related PowerPoint.

Pre-Congress Intensive Workshops 

These provide in-depth information about important perioperative topics, including tools attendees can modify and implement for their practice settings. Workshops are a minimum of 3.5 hours in length, but may comprise a full day, day and a half or two-day workshop, depending on topic and subject matter. Be sure to note the length of the session in your abstract.

Specialty Conferences (Single- and Multi-Day) Session Information 

AORN offers specialty conferences throughout the year that are attended by 100-300 attendees. These conferences are typically held on Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday in various cities nationwide. Session times vary from 90 minutes to two days in length depending on the conference structure. Proposals for these events are reviewed on an as-needed basis and may be pulled by topic (category and subcategory) from the proposal web page. Please note that AORN is always looking for new ideas, topics, and products to educate our members. Our general themes include:

• ambulatory surgery
• clinical trends
• business, education, and leadership
• informatics
• critical issues

Proposal Review Process 

CPE staff members work with Specialty Assembly leaders and Planning Committees to identify topics and review session proposals.
Submission Guidelines

1. AORN will NOT accept fax or e-mail versions of the proposal. Education session proposals will only be accepted through the online submission process.
2. Submissions that do not meet the criteria outlined in the submission process may not be reviewed.
3. Each proposal is reviewed in relationship to participant input, trends in health care, and needed professional development.
4. Acceptability of each proposal will be evaluated and rated on the organization and clarity of the proposal content and the relationship of the behavioral learning objectives relating to the proposal’s content.
5. Please be sure to proofread your abstract and check your spelling prior to submission.
6. All submissions are retained by AORN.
7. Invitations for AORN education activities are made by AORN Nursing Department-Education staff members only. Other invitations are not valid.
8. The contact person identified for each presentation will be informed of proposal status after the review process is complete. Please do not contact us for a status update.

Presentation Title

Capture the gist of your session in a few words (recommended length is 30 characters or less, including spaces and punctuation).

Overview/Abstract

Give a detailed narrative description of the presentation (with a maximum of 200 words). Submit text only. Proposals with graphs, tables, photos, etc. may not be reviewed.

Objectives

Distill these from the overall purpose and/or goal(s) of the presentation. Describe the learner-oriented outcomes which may be expected as a result of participation in the educational activity. These statements should:

• describe knowledge, skills, and attitude changes that should occur upon successful completion of the activity
• express learner-oriented outcomes in measurable terms, using measurable, behavioral verbs such as classify, compare, demonstrate, describe, develop, differentiate, discuss, explain, identify, list, name, state
• identify observable actions
• specify one action or outcome per objective
• match in number the intended purpose and/or goal(s) of the activity

It is not necessary, nor is it recommended, to begin an objective by saying "The participant will be able to..."

Moderator Name 

At the end of the abstract section, you may enter the name and contact information of a colleague or friend you would like to introduce you and your program.

Speaker Information 

All speakers must be identified in the original submission. A maximum of two speakers will be funded for all Congress sessions. You will be required to enter the contact information, education, narrative biography, and complete a conflict-of-interest form for every speaker who will be included in the presentation.

Please note:

The one-member, one-vote change to AORN”s bylaws means we no longer accommodate educational sessions scheduling changes for delegates to attend the House of Delegates at Congress.

Format:

We ask that you type the content of your abstract in Word or another word-processing program. By using word-processing software, you may run spell and grammar checks to be sure your abstract is in quality form before submitting it, and you will have a copy on file in case of any problems with the submission process. Just copy and paste the abstract into the overview/abstract text box when entering your submission online. 

We ask that you type the content of your abstract in Word or another word-processing program. By using word-processing software, you may run spell and grammar checks to be sure your abstract is in quality form before submitting it, and you will have a copy on file in case of any problems with the submission process. Just copy and paste the abstract into the overview/abstract text box when entering your submission online. 

Questions?

For questions about specific events, please contact Lisa Alikhan (Congress) or Sue Hardin (Specialty Conferences and Posters) at 800-755-2676 or cpe@aorn.org.

For questions about the online proposal submission application, please contact Sue Hardin.

Important notes about the online process

Application Title

The “application title” requested when you begin the process is for your reference only. If you were to submit numerous proposals, all of them would be listed in “My Applications,” which is linked to your AORN record using the “application title” as reference. The actual “session title” is required in the Activity Documentation area at “new session” (see below).

Activity Documentation Section

• Click on “new session” to begin the form and enter your “session title” in the pop-up.
• Only one “new session” is required per submission.
• One you have saved the session title, you may add the objectives one at a time. For a 90-minute presentation, two or three objectives are recommended.
• You must scroll down in the objectives dialog box to the see the save button.
• The contact hour calculation in the Activity Document calculates the contact hours as you enter the timeframes of your objectives.

Contact Sue Hardin (shardin@aorn.org  or x320) if you require assistance.