This will be the last Editorial I will write for the journal, as from June I will be leaving BARNA for pastures new. I have worked with BARNA for 5 years and feel that it is now time to bow out.
In my 5-year term with BARNA there have been some big changes. I started with Pat Smedley as Chair and she led BARNA into being a national and international organisation. First representing UK anaesthetic nurses on the IFNA, and secondly representing BARNA with the NWWA programme promoting the anaesthetic practitioner in this country. Also joining the Perioperative Care Collaborative and giving a voice in the perioperative arena to anaesthetic and recovery nurses. I have just carried on the work that Pat started. We published the standards and we are just about to start publishing some of the competencies for anaesthetic and recovery care. We are not a big organisation, but we achieve a vast amount considering all of us work full time and do all the BARNA duties in our spare time.
I hand the journal over to a colleague of mine – Jessica Inch. Jessica is an advanced practitioner in the PACU of the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre in Epsom Surrey. She has been a BARNA member for some time and is keen to get going on the journal. The journal has been through a bit of a rough patch due to my illness, and so with Jessica at the helm she will steer it once more in the right direction. However as I have always said she cannot do this without you, the members submitting articles, so please please consider writing something.
I hand the chair of BARNA over to Manda Dunne, Manda has been a member of BARNA for a number of years and works in a hospital where they have exclusively anaesthetic nurses who work interchangeably between recovery and anaesthetics. Being an anaesthetic nurse she is a strong advocate of the role and no doubt will tell you more in her chairs letter.
It will be my last conference this year, and I probably will not go next year as I think it unfair on the new chair to have the old one there looking over their shoulder. For me the conference is the highlight of the year, it is a culmination of all the hard work that the committee have put in over the preceding year. As well as working hard we all really enjoy ourselves meeting all the members that come to conference. We all feel it is important to concentrate on clinical issues and have clinically focussed workshops, which are always evaluated well.
For a number of years now BARNA has worked with M&K Update. Mike and Ken have always been supportive of BARNA and have been helpful in managing our membership and conference booking. Although not part of the committee they are always on hand for advice.
Penultimately I must thank everyone on the committee without your support and dedication BARNA would not survive. I have enjoyed working with you all; carry on with the good work.
Finally I would like to thank all the dedicated members of BARNA because without you there would be no organisation. I move on to other things, enhanced by my experiences with BARNA.
That is the Oscar speech over and done with!!
