16. Optimising Recovery: The Essential Role of the ERAS Nurse

In this episode of Minds On, Gloves Off, hosts Elyse and Carmen sit down with Edwina, ACORNs clinical excellence coordinator and the ACORN Standards Editor in Chief to explore how perioperative teams can move beyond compliance and embed the Standards into everyday practice. Together, they discuss common implementation challenges, leadership strategies, workforce pressures, professional accountability and practical steps for creating sustainable change across perioperative environments.

Behaviour Support Practitioner and advocate Amy Hall shares her lived experience as an Autistic person with ADHD and an acquired brain injury, alongside practical insights into delivering neuroaffirming healthcare. This episode explores how healthcare professionals can better support neurodivergent patients through understanding, flexibility and person-centred care.

Experienced perioperative nurse Jane Howard shares her journey from ophthalmic surgery in Sydney to volunteering with Cambodia Vision and working in regional healthcare. Discover the lessons, challenges and rewards that have shaped her unique nursing career.

What drives a perioperative nurse to step into research and what the PhD journey really looks like from the inside.

How the way we talk about pain before and after surgery shapes what patients feel, expect, and recover from.