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About the Author

Patricia Sedlak, RN, BSN, RNFA, CST, CNOR has been a perioperative nurse for more than twenty years. Her baccalaureate is in nursing from Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. Mrs. Sedlak was the recipient of the C. Joan Gowin Merit Scholarship in 1995 and the Lorain County Community College Foundation Scholarship in 1998. She is certified in perioperative nursing and surgical technology and credentialed by the Ohio State Board of Nursing in Registered Nurse First Assisting. She is a member of AORN, AST, and Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society.
Mrs. Sedlak was awarded the Community Health Partners Foundation Board Grant in 2003 and 2004 for medical missionary work in the Dominican Republic with the Lorain County Community College surgical technology students. She won the Teacher of the Year and Teaching Excellence distinction in 2001, 2002, 2003. She is the Program Director for Surgical Technology and Registered Nurse First Assisting at Lorain County Community College, In Lorain, Ohio. Nancymarie Phillips, RN, B.A., BSN, M.Ed., Ph.D., RNFA, CNOR(E), is professor emerita at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio, where she was director of perioperative education and the Surgical Technology Program. A perioperative nurse since 1975, Dr. Phillips is a registered nurse and registered nurse first assistant, and she is certified in perioperative nursing. Active in many areas of the field, Dr. Phillips has held local and national positions with the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) and the Competency and Credentialing Institute (previously the Certification Board for Perioperative Nursing), in addition to authoring and contributing to many articles, textbooks and book chapters. She holds undergraduate degrees in health services and nursing from Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio, as well as master's and doctoral degrees in adult education and development from Cleveland State University.