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Brenda C. Ulmer, MN,RN,CNOR,FAORN

Perioperative Nurse Educator
Self Employed
SNELLVILLE, Georgia, United States

Brenda C. Ulmer, MN, RN, CNOR, FAORN is an independent perioperative nurse educator with expert knowledge of energy-based devices including the hazards of surgical smoke. Additional experience includes accreditation and credentialing processes along with preparation and presentation of educational programs.

Ulmer’s work history includes the Global Director, Professional Education for Valleylab Energy-based Devices, Director of Surgical Services at Northlake Regional Medical Center in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as staff and charge positions at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

Long an active member of AORN (Association of periOperative Registered Nurses) Ulmer served three terms on the national Board of Directors, and as national President 2000-2001. From 1989 to 1994 Ulmer served on the Certification Board Perioperative Nursing, and as president 1990-91 and 1993-94. Since 1995 she has worked with AORN, OSHA, NIOSH, ANA, physicians and nurses to facilitate workplace safety guidelines on smoke evacuation. She served as AORN representative to SAGES Fundamental Use of Energy in Surgery Committee (FUSE) during the development of their electrosurgery certification exam and is an inaugural Board of Directors member on the International Council on Surgical Plume (ICSP). She was the Subject Matter Expert on AORN’s Go Clear Smoke Recognition Award program. Ulmer has served as the Legislative Chair for the Georgia Council of Perioperative Nurses since 2019. This work resulted in surgical smoke evacuation bills for the 2022 Georgia legislative session which were ultimately signed into law in July 2022.

At AORN Congress in 2006 Ms. Ulmer was awarded AORN’s highest honor, the Award for Excellence in Perioperative Nursing. Ulmer is a 2020 inductee into AORN’s FAORN (Fellow Association of periOperative Registered Nurses). She received the Georgia Council of periOperative Registered Nurses’ Perioperative Nurse of the Year award in 2023.

Ms. Ulmer has presented numerous programs on patient safety and nursing issues throughout the world.
In 1983 she published one of the first nursing texts on ambulatory surgery: Ambulatory Surgery: A Guide to Perioperative Nursing Care. She is widely published in nursing journals and nursing texts, with contributions to 11 textbooks. She has authored Self Study Guides on Electrosurgery, Surgical Smoke, MIS and Ultrasonics. Ms. Ulmer is co-editor of the textbook published by CCI in 2009 entitled Competency for Safe Patient Care During Operative and Invasive Procedures.

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