The first meeting of the informal European group was held in Brighton in 1981. The initial challenge for this group was to organise the first European day for operating room nurses in connection with the 1982 Annual Congress of National Association of Theatre Nurses (NATN).
Even though this European day was a great success, and the informal European group very enthusiastic, the co-operation stayed informal. It wasn’t until 1991 at a meeting held at the European Commission, which included simultaneous translation, that the organization started making some organizational progress. The representatives discussed the formalization of the group and the evolving financial and constitutional issues.
In 1991, National association theatre nurses began to produce the European Newsletters to be circulated all over Europe. At that time, there were 16 member countries in the European group.
The meeting held in Copenhagen in April 1992 was crucial for the future Association. There were 17 countries present, and they all wanted to formalise the European group in 17 different ways. There were several suggestions for the groups’ official name, and the representatives chose the proposal “European Operating Room Nurses Association”. EORNA was born!
However, at this stage there were no officers, no money, and no constitution, thus a lot of hard work needed to be done. Hopefully this web-site will give you an idea what EORNA is like today, and what are its biggest achievements and future challenges. We in EORNA enjoy the European cultural diversity – it has been both the enrichment and the excitement of this co-operation. We hope that you will enjoy the story and the current view of EORNA, the European voice of perioperative nursing.