Abstract
Hello, my name is Julie Quick and as we head into a new year, I am both honoured and delighted to be writing this welcome editorial as I take on the role of Editor in Chief for the Journal of Perioperative Practice. This Journal is the official publication of AfPP and so I take this opportunity to welcome Tracey Williams into her new role of AfPP President. We are both stepping into the shoes of some prominent perioperative nurses and ODPs who have shaped the Association as well as the Journal you read today, which attracts the attention of both a national and international audience.
Similar to perioperative practice, a team effort is required to publish each Journal and as I take over from Karen McCutcheon I thank Karen for her help in my previous role of Associate Editor and I look forward to continuing to work with Daphne Martin, Associate Editor, Gina Graydon, Editorial Administrator and the publishing team at SAGE. The Journal provides a platform for practitioners, researchers and academics to achieve the aim of AfPP – to progress safer surgery – through sharing and discussing perioperative issues and we can’t do that without the support of you. As a reader of this journal you are also key to this team and if you have experience of the peer-review process then you may like to consider expressing your interest in the co-associate editor role: check out the AfPP website for more information.
Whilst 2019 is a new year, it is a privilege to continue to publish the work of Professor Harold Ellis as he revisits Thyroid Surgery in his popular series ‘Surgery of the Past’. In future editions Professor Ellis will be exploring the different surgical specialties – looking at key pioneers, surgical instruments and how this type of surgery developed. This series will provide us with a fascinating trip down memory lane and a timely reminder of how surgery and consequently perioperative practice has progressed.
Many of you will know me from my work with AfPP over the past few years but for those of you who don’t, I have over 24 years’ experience as a theatre nurse, moving into perioperative education five years ago. I always believe that despite our experience, there is the opportunity to learn something new every day. In this edition Valerie McAvoy and Marion Waite explore a topic many of us will be familiar with – Student Operating Department Practitioners on clinical placement. Whether a student, mentor or lecturer this article provides new insight into how accepted students feel on clinical placements and how this impacts upon them personally and their learning.
I have a long history with this Journal and it is one I hold dear: I became a member of AfPP back in the 1990s and loved to read it to catch up with the many changes that were happening within theatres at the time as this was well before the internet became the norm and the only way anyone could keep up to date. Fast forward two decades and I decided to have a go at writing an article for the Journal, and whilst it can seem daunting at first, there is nothing like the feeling of seeing your work published knowing that patient care may improve because of what you have written. Michelle Bennett is one such author as she examines a specialty which is she admits often challenging as well as being under-represented in perioperative literature – assessment of pain in children undergoing surgery. A specialist area which not all practitioners have experience of but since paediatric surgery remains common, particularly in most NHS Trusts, pain management is an essential component of patient care and Michelle looks at pain management in different age groups and abilities.
More recently as part of the editorial team I have been able to guide prospective authors through the peer-review process and one of my aims as Editor in Chief is to inspire as many novice and established authors as possible to write for the Journal to ensure that we continue to advance perioperative care within the UK and globally. I would encourage you to consider this journal to publish your research findings, audit or service improvement results and in this edition Mohammed Arshad and his team did just that. They identify the common causes of elective list cancellations and the financial impact this can have is a stark reminder of how much it actually costs to care for patients before, during and after surgery.
You will see that whilst the cover may have slightly changed the content remains the same – all of our contributors are focused upon advancing perioperative care. If you are interested in writing and contributing to the journal then please look at the guidelines for authors or contact me for more information.
Finally, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and very healthy New Year for 2019!
Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences
Birmingham City University
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