Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care. - -Theodore Roosevelt
It has been an honor to serve as your president of ASPSN for the past 2 years. It has been incredible; I have had the privilege to work with an extraordinary group of women dedicated to the society and a passion for the profession. I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to my present board: Marcia Spear, Amanda Bailey, Haley Wood, Linda Duffy, Christian Van de Riet, and Kathy Mortl as well as past board members Georgia Elmassian and Susan Lamp. As a board, we accomplished many of our goals set during our strategic planning session. I would also like to acknowledge our superb team from PRRI: Lindsay DeSantis, Crystal Beatrice, Amy Nolfi, Yvonne Grunebuam, Nicole Pinkham, and Adam Denhard.
Our accomplishments include a constant upward trend in membership; involvement with the National Student Nurse Association (NSNA) with scholarships offered to NSNA as well as PSNCB and ASPSN; with great pride certification for aesthetic nurses became a reality; publication of the 4th Edition of the Core Curriculum, which will be available by early October; a "facelift" for our Plastic Surgery Nursing journal, we hope you like the change. Last but not least, we continue to remain mindful of our financial responsibilities to the society, and we are now fortunate enough to invest a portion of our savings.
Our most current project is the development of a Clinical Practice Committee that will be responsible for writing position statements and guidelines for plastic surgical nursing. We are excited to get this "off the ground" as it will promote practice excellence and optimal patient safety and outcomes in plastic surgical nursing by using evidence-based practice as the foundation of care. We will also continue our collaboration with NSNA, students are our future, and by continuing our relationship with NSNA, we are able to promote ASPSN to a new generation of nurses.
Again, I would like to thank the members of the society; it has been a rewarding time serving as your president. I know that ASPSN will continue to prosper; our new leadership team will take us to yet another level of excellence.