Lessons from the Lounge: AORN 2025 and the Divide That Still Remains

As a writer and journalist who covers medical topics for Infection Control Today® (ICT®), I have a unique position to be both in the midst of things and an outsider. Spending the last few days at the Association for periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Global Conference and Expo in Boston, Massachusetts, I listened to nurses, sterile processing personnel, and a few infection preventionists (IPs) talk about each other—both good and bad.

For the most part, they wanted it to be better.

The most interesting conversation I had, though, was at the airport waiting for my flight home. As I had breakfast at the airport bar, I struck up a conversation with the woman beside me, who told me she had attended the AORN conference, too. I will call her Jane.

I asked Jane how she enjoyed the conference. She sighed and then, grimacing, shook her head. She said that she felt like she no longer got anything out of going to conferences because she knows “more than the little girl on the stage.”

She mentioned her age—55, same as I—and I found the attitude interesting. How do you grow in your field—or even as a person—if you don’t continually learn? I learn all the time about my own field and the fields that ICT covers. I have always thought that as long as I am breathing, I want to be learning.

Then I thought, maybe it’s just because she is tired and ready to go home. So, I asked her how she got along with the IP at her facility. Jane said that it irritated her when the IP came in and told her what she, as the nurse director, was doing wrong “when [the IP] doesn’t know what she’s looking at.”

My initial thought was, “Then teach the IP, so you can work on the issues together.” But I didn’t say anything. I just let her talk. She said, “I could be an IP; I know more than she does.” Jane rolled her eyes.

Was it my meal companion’s impatience with someone younger? Was it that she resented the IP coming in and telling her what she was doing incorrectly or checking her numbers? Was it because the IP wasn’t a nurse? Was it just that Jane was grumpy because it was early, and the previous few days had been nonstop moving at the conference?

Regardless, I wondered how she could improve the relationship instead of harboring what I sensed was a deep resentment. I couldn’t help thinking of the posters and presentations I had read and listened to over the previous few days about working interdepartmentally. How important it is for patient and staff safety to not silo the departments away from each other.

I wonder if Jane read or saw any of the presentations I had about working together to protect the patients and staff. I wonder if she could see that reaching out to learn, to teach, and to collaborate is vital in every profession, but especially in health care.

Before and at the conference, I also heard that the sterile processing department (SPD) often clashes with the operating room (OR). I understand a bit more after watching John Kimsey’s SPD game at #AORN2025. Even though I didn’t understand everything happening, I could undoubtedly see the chaos (controlled?) that the game represented. John had told me that during the game, the OR and perioperative nurses finally understood—at least a bit—what happens in the SPD. What a learning experience! Showing, not telling. Had Jane seen John’s game?

Another thing Jane said was, “The infection was from environmental services (EVS) not doing their job—again!” Why would it happen again? Why didn’t the OR and perioperative nurses or IPs discuss their issues? She said that her ORs had been having 5 infection outbreaks in the last year and opined that she couldn’t figure out where they were coming from. She said that “her” ORs were spotless, the SPD was not at fault, and nothing was common from one infection to another that she could find.

(I couldn’t help thinking she needed genomics, but I—again—just let her talk.)

Eventually, her flight was called, and she left. I sat there and considered the smiles, the laughter, and the standing-room-only presentations I’d attended—not only at AORN 2025, but at every conference I’ve ever attended. I have always heard people discussing how much they had learned and how excited they were to take the information back to their facilities.

I am sure there are always some people who leave the conference disappointed that they didn’t learn more. Honestly, I believe that if you didn’t learn anything, it was your own responsibility. With hundreds of posters, inspiring and informative presentations, and an expo floor with something for everyone, attendees only had to open their minds to soak in the electric atmosphere of education and reenergizing for the profession they had chosen.

Overall, if we’re going to truly move the needle on infection prevention and patient safety, my discussion with Jane emphasized that we must leave our silos behind and walk toward each other with openness, humility, and a willingness to learn. Conferences like AORN are filled with opportunities to grow—but growth only happens if we let it. Whether you’re in the OR, SPD, EVS, or infection prevention, it’s not just about knowing your role. It’s about respecting others’ roles, asking questions, and building trust across the invisible lines that divide us. Because the patient doesn’t care who’s to blame; they just need us all to do better—together.