This year has been great for the advancement of the clinical nurse specialist in the public eye. Your organization, National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS), has represented you on many fronts. These representatives from NACNS have been in front of the Federal Trade Commission to attending meetings at the National Council of the State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). Many of the meetings that a member of the Board of Directors or Executive Director or other appointed members have attended will never be recognized for they are too many to count. But be assured that we are working on your behalf and on behalf of the future Clinical Nurse Specialists at every opportunity. If you know of a meeting or venue where you should be represented by your national organization, please contact our national office through our Web site http://www.nacns.org or by phone (717) 234-6799 or fax (717) 234-6798.
Celebrate a Birthday in 2004!!
Come 2004 clinical nurse specialists are 50 years old. Help us welcome in the 50th birthday of the first initial program for clinical nurse specialists. We will be featuring more information with the first issue of our journal and carrying throughout the year. There will be a big birthday party at the NACNS Annual Meeting in San Antonio. Mark your calendars. March 10-13, 2004, at the Adam's Mark Hotel in San Antonio: "Renaissance in CNS Practice: Transforming Nursing in the 21st Century."
CNS of the Year Award
Everywhere, everyday, clinical nurse specialists advance the delivery of safe, quality, cost-effective health care. Each year NACNS honors clinical nurse specialists for their accomplishments. Applications can be found on the Web site, http://www.nacns.org/year. Don't miss the chance to nominate your peers for this prestigious award!! For the third year, NACNS is sponsoring an award for the CNS of the Year. The purpose of the award is to recognize an individual NACNS member for outstanding professional achievement. The candidate must demonstrate CNS competencies and exemplary practice as a clinical nurse specialist in the 3 spheres of influence (patients/families, nurses and other health care personnel, and the system/organization). The criteria for the award are that the candidate must
- be nominated by a nursing colleague and/or nursing supervisor,
- hold current membership in NACNS,
- have at least 3 years of experience as a clinical nurse specialist, and
- must serve as a role model to nursing colleagues by
- maintaining an outstanding level of skill and knowledge in their specialty area;
- utilize or demonstrate CNS competencies in all 3 spheres of influence;
- demonstrate quality patient outcomes as a result of his/her practice;
- support nurses in the delivery of patient care and in the advancement of nursing practice; and
- promote change and collaboration at the system level to improve or impact patient care.
The award provides the winner a year's free membership to NACNS, free registration to the next year's annual conference, a press release announcement, a plaque, and a pin. The deadline for submission of a candidate's information is December 29, 2003. A subcommittee appointed by the Board of Directors will review and select the winning nominee.
Affiliate of the Year Award
All 14 NACNS affiliates are eligible for this new award that will recognize an affiliate for outstanding contributions to the growth, education, or leadership of clinical nurse specialists of its region. Please see website for further details at http://www.nacns.org/affiliates.
For the first time, the NACNS Board of Directors is sponsoring a new yearly award that is specifically designed to acknowledge one of its affiliate members. Currently, there are 16 NACNS affiliates. This rotating award is given to an affiliate that illustrates one or more of the following:
- In the first 2 to 3 years, it has demonstrated sustained growth of the NACNS member component;
- Has offered an innovative, creative continuing education class, conference, or program that focuses on CNS practice;
- Has a leadership development effort that prepares CNSs for local, regional, and/or national office in a professional group;
- Has contributed to the growth and activities of NACNS, eg, co-hosting an annual NACNS conference; and
- A member and/or members of the affiliate have contributed an article to the CNS Journal on a topic of interest to CNSs in practice.
The deadline for submission of an affiliate's information is December 29, 2003. A subcommittee selected by the Board of Directors will review and select the winning affiliate.
The NACNS Statement on Clinical Nurse Specialist Practice and Education Is Up for Public Comment
Please go to the Web site at http://www.nacns.org for further details on how and when to make your suggestions. We hope to have the revisions completed and the updated version available by the annual meeting. This is your opportunity to help NACNS refine the national standards for education and practice!!
Members to be recognized
Patti Eisenberg, MSN, RN, CS, has recently received 2 prestigious awards. (1) She has been appointed to the CCNE (Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education) Board of Commissioners (BOC) as the professional practice nurse. (2) Through her efforts to facilitate the change of practice to evidence-based practice, she led the team that initiated the "Standards of Nutritional Care" for the Community Hospitals Foundation in Indiana. Congratulations Patti!!
Theresa Murray, MSN, RN, CS, was awarded the Art and Science of Nursing award from the Community Hospitals Foundation in Indiana for her efforts in advancing the art of nursing. Congratulations Theresa!!
Gail Ann DeLuca Havens, PhD, APRN, BC, NACNS Director, has accepted a position as Nurse Ethicist at The University of Utah and in the Division of Medical Ethics, LDS Hospital, both in Salt Lake City, Utah. The position represents a new collaboration between the College and the Division with a primary focus on ethical issues in patient care addressed through education and consultation, particularly with the nursing staff.
In October, 2003, Dr DeLuca Havens presented a paper, "Planning for End of Life Care: Research as Praxis with Community Dwelling Adults," at the Nursing, Affinity Group Pre-Conference Session of the annual meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Way to go Gail!!
Diane Palec, RN, MSN, is a CNS at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She works with patients in the vascular, colorectal, and general surgery postsurgical areas. She has presented in the areas of postsurgical care of both vascular and general surgery patients as well as collaboration in research. She has published in the vascular surgery area. She is the recent winner of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses Clinical Leadership award. Congratulations Diane!!
Deborah Antai-Otong, MS, RN, CNS, NP, FAAN. She was recently reappointed as a Commissioner on the Board of Certification with ANCC. In addition, she has recently published an article in Advance Nurse Practitioner (11, 32-40) entitled "Optimizing psychotropic use in older adults: Strategies for nurse practitioners" (August 2003).
Palliative and End-of-Life Care (PEOLC) Steering Committee
The PEOLC steering committee reminds NACNS members to go to the NACNS Web page to complete the PEOLC Education Needs Assessment (http://www.nacns.org/special/) to download the short assessment so that we can be responsive to your needs in this specialty area.
Currently, the Committee is addressing 4 initiatives in response to needs identified by members. These include PEOLC education as a component of the annual conference-a session on pain management in PEOLC will be presented at the 2004 conference in San Antonio; a series of articles focused on PEOLC to be published in this journal-authors are needed-please contact Gail Havens at [email protected] or [email protected] to volunteer; links from the NACNS Web page to PEOLC resources; and Web-based PEOLC continuing education offerings-volunteers are needed to move this initiative forward. Please consider joining the Committee!! Volunteers, questions, suggestions, please contact Gail Havens.
NACNS membership has reached new heights!!
September 9th, 2003, the NACNS membership reached the 1400 mark. Congratulations!! In just 8 short years this is a great milestone to be reached. Keep up that membership drive. The 2000 mark will not be far away.
NACNS Statement on Clinical NurseSpecialist Practice and Education
This document articulates the competencies requisite to CNS practice, outlines the necessary outcomes of nursing, and provides direction to schools of nursing regarding the preparation of CNSs. You can purchase your copy of this landmark document through the NACNS Office. The cost is $15 per copy for members of NACNS and $25 per copy for nonmembers. Discounts are offered on purchases of 15 copies or more. Contact the NACNS Office today to order your copy of the Statement.
2003 National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists Board of Directors
President
Janet Fulton
Immediate Past President
Sue B. Davidson
President-Elect
Angela Clark
Vice-President
Nancy E. Dayhoff
Treasurer
Karen Lyon
Secretary
Theresa Posani
Directors
Deborah Antai-Otong
Kathleen Baldwin
Gail DeLuca Havens
Theresa Murray
Newsletter Editors
Theresa Posani
Deborah Antai-Otong
NACNS Staff
Executive Director
Christine Carson Filipovich
NACNS
3969 Green St
Harrisburg, PA 17110
Telephone: 717-234-6799
Fax: 717-234-6798
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: http://www.nacns.org