Officially formed in 1983, the Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada (ORNAC) is a member of the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) Canadian Network of Nursing Specialties and the national voice for perioperative registered nurses across Canada. This not for profit association has a volunteer board of directors representing every province in Canada as well as the domains of Leadership, Education and Advanced Practice. ORNAC works to promote excellence by demonstrating leadership in patient safety, and by enabling best practice, career advancement and professional development for perioperative nurses. ORNAC wants patients to benefit from safe and effective care by having perioperative practice performed at a high standard, and having perioperative nurses lead the development of effective perioperative teams.

National and International collaboration with aligned organizations is important to ORNAC as seen through work with Accreditation Canada and Healthcare Excellence Canada (HEC) and the International Federation of Perioperative Nurses (IFPN). ORNAC endorses initiatives for “Safer Healthcare Now” as well as CSA Standards on multiple subjects such as perioperative safety, sterilization and health care facilities.

ORNAC encourages CNA certification for Perioperative Registered Nurses [CPN( C)]. It is the mandate of the ORNAC Standards Committee to develop and review national standards for perioperative registered nursing practice every two years. Content expertise has been provided by Perioperative Registered Nurses across Canada and reflects current practice, research, and review of medical/surgical literature.

ORNAC strives for “Excellence, every patient, every time.”