Wow, hard to believe that my first year as president is coming to an end. It has been a busy year and I have tried to provide periodic updates in the E-news regarding the activities.
The CANS (Certified Aesthetic Nurse Specialist) examination is a reality!!! The pilot examination was offered at the Aesthetic Meeting in New York in May and I am so excited that we will be offering the examination at the San Diego Convention! Many thanks go out to the task force, the test writers, as well as the financial sponsors to defray the cost of writing the examination.
The Scientific Session Planning Committee kicks in immediately after each convention reviewing comments that are submitted regarding the previous years' meeting. They use the information to plan the next convention. I would like to thank Georgia Elmassian, Nancy Radislovich, and the committee for their enthusiasm and effort to provide an excellent educational program for the society. A gracious thank you to Georgia for her many years devoted to being the chairperson of the SSPC; she is passing the torch on to Nancy, who will serve as the chairperson of the SSPC for the next couple of years. Thanks Georgia for your ongoing support!
Our Membership Committee is busy recruiting new members; I am pleased to report that our membership continues to grow; July 2012 we had 959 members and by July 2013 we were up to 1152 members! As you know, one of my "projects" is to reach out to student nurses. One of our membership campaigns involves sending letters to all of the nursing schools in the country to introduce our specialty; this will not be a one-time event. The plan is to send letters out every semester; the first wave went out in late June/early July.
Thanks to Nancy Radislovich and Linda Duffy for their efforts.
Speaking of reaching out to student nurses, many of you know that I attended the National Student Nurse's Association convention in April; I will follow up with attending their Mid-year Career Planning Conference this November to participate on a panel to discuss the specialty of Plastic Surgery Nursing. I am very excited about this opportunity and look forward to being able to represent ASPSN.
Our Plastic Surgery Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (2nd edition) is now available for purchase. I would like to thank Marcia Spear for taking on this project. The American Nurses Association sent out a news release on July 9 regarding the publication.
Our E-News continue to offer timely articles, "pearls of wisdom," and updates on our practice. Thanks to Susan Lamp for handling this activity.
The 4th edition of the Core Curriculum is a work in progress, thanks to Tracey Hotta and the authors. The Core hopefully will be ready for publication by September; unfortunately it most likely will not be available for purchase in San Diego, CA. But, I am very excited that the project is nearly completed with an expanded section on Aesthetic Nursing.
I also want to thank the entire board for their time and effort; Marcia Spear, Amanda Bailey, Georgia Elmassian, Susan Lamp, Hailey Wood, and Linda Duffy; I couldn't do it without you!!!
Last but not least, thanks to our staff at PRRI for your support, all of the "behind the scenes" work that you do. It is truly appreciated.
I am looking forward to another great convention this fall in San Diego. I look forward to seeing you there!