AORN chapter 4301 - East Tennessee Region

11/14/2025

Our last gathering in 2025! Hope to see everyone there.

11/13/2025

“The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
- Lyndybroom

11/11/2025

🌟 AORN Member Spotlight: Donna Gardner, MSN, RN, CNOR

Meet Donna Gardner, Nurse Manager of the OR at Prisma Health Blount Memorial Hospital!

👩‍⚕️ Perioperative Experience: Since 1998 — Donna began her OR journey in Labor & Delivery, circulating and scrubbing C-sections, tubals, and D&Cs.

💡 What Inspired Her: “After I had my daughter in 1992, I knew I wanted to be a nurse.”

❤️ What She Loves About the OR: “Teamwork! It takes the whole team working together to prepare, execute, and recover patients.”

🔪 Favorite Specialty: Urology — “I never thought I’d love it, but I do!”

💬 Advice for New OR Nurses: “Stick with it. It’s a lot to learn, but after a year, you’ll finally say, ‘I’m OK!’”

💙 What AORN Means to Her: “AORN is the heart and soul of what we do. Our chapter ( #4301) has become like an extended family — we meet together, eat together, and learn together.”

⛺ Outside the OR: Donna enjoys camping and riding E-Bikes with her husband, and spending time with Maggie, her 4-year-old Schnauzer. She’s also crafty — she even taught herself to sew OR hats during COVID!

💖 Donna’s Motto: “Make patient care your top priority. If you fail your patients, you fail yourself.”

11/08/2025

Reminder...
AORN’s East TN Chapter 4301 Fundraiser is happening now!
Scan the QR code below to grab your shirt today — and show your support for our amazing chapter!

I’ve already received mine, and I can confirm — they’re soft, comfy, and great quality!

11/06/2025

Periop nurse week is right around the corner!

11/02/2025

Been there…Done that! Haven’t we all?!?!

10/26/2025

10/19/2025

Did you know that before anaesthesia was discovered, surgeries were performed on fully awake patients who were held down by force with assistants restraining them, while screaming in pain?
The surgeon would then work as fast as humanly possible. The quicker the operation, the higher the chance the patient might survive the shock.

The history of anaesthesia isn’t as straightforward as we know it. Most of what we read comes from Western accounts, but the truth is, people across the world were trying to ease pain long before the first ether bottle was opened in Boston.

Japanese surgeon Seishu Hanaoka had already cracked it — almost forty years earlier. He spent decades experimenting with herbs and came up with a mix that could put patients into deep, reversible sleep. He performed major surgeries without pain, long before the West even dreamt of ether or chloroform.

Even before that, there are scattered stories — monks in medieval Europe brewing herbal sedatives in monastery gardens, ancient Indian and Chinese texts describing mixtures that dulled pain. Some worked, some didn’t. But the idea was always there: pain could be controlled.

Then came 16 October 1846, the day everything changed. At Massachusetts General Hospital, William Morton used ether during surgery — and for the first time, the patient didn’t scream. The news spread fast and within weeks, surgeons in England tried it too.

Before that, surgery was nothing short of torture. Patients were strapped down, surgeons worked as fast as they could, and survival often depended on luck. After ether, everything changed. Surgery slowed down and it became precise.

A year later, James Simpson in Edinburgh started using chloroform — easier to give, but far riskier. Still, it spread across hospitals everywhere. Over time came local anaesthesia, spinal blocks, nerve blocks, IV drugs, and muscle relaxants — each making surgery safer and smoother.
By the 1950s, halothane arrived which is much simpler and more predictable. The rest followed: better machines, better drugs, better training.
Today, anaesthesiologists do far more than “put people to sleep.” They manage pain, run ICUs, handle emergencies, and keep patients alive during the toughest surgeries. The mortality rate from anaesthesia in developed countries is now less than one in 250,000.

And that brings us to today. In modern medicine, we can hardly imagine a surgery, a procedure, or even the administration of medicine itself without anaesthesia. That’s how precise, important, and indispensable it has become. From medieval monks brewing herbs and terrified patients screaming on the table, to high-tech operating theatres with machines monitoring every heartbeat, the journey of anaesthesia shows just how far modern medicine and research have come.

10/13/2025

💡 AORN East Tennessee Member Spotlight: Adela Cuel, BSN, RN, CNOR
Meet Adela Cuel, a dedicated Clinical RN III/Relief Charge RN at Fort Loudoun Medical Center in Lenoir City, who has been caring for patients for 14 years and has been an AORN member for 8 years.

💙 Why Perioperative Nursing?
Adela discovered her passion for the OR while working in a spine surgeon’s office, where she had the opportunity to be trained as a circulator. She says,

“I love being part of a team that collaborates across departments to help patients through their surgical experience. It’s incredibly rewarding.”

💪 Career Highlights
Adela holds her CNOR, ACLS, PALS, and Ultrasound-Guided IV Start certifications and was recently honored with the Professional Nurse Award for Clinical Excellence from Covenant Health/Fort Loudoun.

🌟 Advice for New Nurses:

“Get OR experience as soon as you can—you’ll know right away if it’s your calling. And join AORN! The knowledge and support I’ve gained have been invaluable.”

🌈 Outside the OR
Originally from Denver City, Texas, Adela now calls Kingston, TN, home. She loves spending time with her family, cheering on UT sports, and doting on her two young grandchildren (with another on the way!).

✈️ Fun Fact:
Before landing her first nursing job, Adela worked as a Jimmy John’s delivery driver—learning to be “fast on your feet, not on the streets!” 😄

📘 Favorite Book: The Silent Patient
🎬 Favorite Shows: Only Murders in the Building and Hallmark Christmas movies

💚 AORN Connection
Adela is proud to be part of both the Peach State Chapter (GA) and the East Tennessee Chapter. She loves attending the AORN Expo and looks forward to supporting her team as they begin performing total hip and knee arthroplasty surgeries this year.

Please join us in celebrating Adela’s commitment, compassion, and excellence in perioperative nursing! 👏💙

10/03/2025

It was a great evening to talk water quality! Thanks to Knoxville Spine Surgery Center for hosting, Leigh Ann Bartlett for presenting, and our wonderful president for bringing awareness to our profession. Until next time, friends!

09/29/2025

✨ AORN Member Spotlight! ✨
Meet our amazing Chapter Vice President, Rene Bates, RN, BSN 💙

👩‍⚕️ Director of Surgery at Tennessee Valley Eye Center
🩺 25 years in perioperative nursing
💬 Loves: Patient advocacy
👁 Favorite specialty: Ophthalmology
🌊 Outside of work: lake days, camping, beach travel & roller skating!

Rene says, “It will take a while to get it all!” — great advice for new OR nurses. 💡

We’re so grateful for Rene’s leadership and the relationships she’s built through AORN. 💙👏

09/22/2025

Happy surgical technologist week to the silent hero’s of the OR. Thank you for all you do to ensure positive outcomes for the patients you care for! ❤️