ACORN history

1976

The coordinating committee met again and were joined by representatives from the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. New Zealand was also represented.

1977

The inaugural Australasian Conference of Operating Room Nurses in Canberra was a resounding success. Delegates attended from all over Australia and from New Zealand, United States of America, United Kingdom and Malaysia. A unanimous decision was made to form a national organisation and state representatives formulated a constitution, financial guidelines and organisational format.

1978

The first National Council meeting took place in Adelaide in February. Council meetings were set for every six months and the council term was for three years. The first official journal, ACORN News, was published in February.

1980

The second national conference was held in Adelaide. New guidelines for operating room nursing practice, based on reviews of resolutions taken at the 1977 conference, were made available. This was the origin of the ACORN Standards for Perioperative Nursing in Australia.

1986

ACORN News was amalgamated with The New South Wales journal, Forceps, and the Victorian journal, Snippets, to become a national journal, ACORN Journal – The Journal of Perioperative Nursing in Australia, which was published in December.

1996

ACORN became incorporated as a company limited by guarantee by the Australian Securities Commission. The six senior councillors became directors of the company and the president became company secretary as well as a director. The seven junior councillors became representatives of the company.

1998

The national conference in Perth celebrated the 21st birthday of the Australian Confederation of Operating Room Nurses. The theme of this national conference was ‘21 years on – Growth, development and diversity’. Hereafter the national conference would be held every two years with a corresponding term of office for the ACORN council.

2000

ACORN became a college – Australian College of Operating Room Nurses. The president and executive were elected from candidates currently serving on the board, rather than appointed by succession. The president was thus independent, rather than state based, and could give greater attention to national issues.

2016

At the Annual General Meeting, members voted to change the College's name to Australian College of Perioperative Nurses while retaining the acronym ACORN.