I want to thank the membership for trusting me to lead the helm for the International Society of Plastic and Aesthetic Nurses (ISPAN) over the next 2 years.
I have interviewed several past Presidents of the ISPAN to gather wisdom and tips for the future of our society. What did ISPAN's past Presidents have to say?
* Keep a balance between aesthetic and reconstruction.
* Take care of our existing members.
* Continue to grow our membership.
* Increase attendance at the annual meeting.
* Listen.
* Remain true to yourself.
Learning from the past leadership is not only important when assuming a new role but an important virtue in your day to day as well. How can we entertain the advice given above and apply the knowledge to our current nursing careers? I want to look at the advice from the 20,000-foot view.
Are you an aesthetic nurse? Don't lose contact with your reconstruction peers. Reconstruction spans a breadth of plastic surgery nursing including pediatrics, wound care, trauma, oncology, and beyond. Someday a reconstruction nurse may help you, family, or a friend through an experience, and vice versa. You may be primarily a reconstruction nurse and not involved in cosmetic treatments, but you want to be able to answer questions friends and family may have about these common procedures. Per the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, over 7 million Botox injections are done a year. Opportunities to help or answer questions may arise. The aesthetic and reconstruction plastic surgery nursing worlds are different but never truly separate or really that far apart. We are colleagues, friends, and resources to one another.
How can we expand on the advice about taking care of existing members? Are there nurses in your area who have been practicing for years or even decades? Reach out to them as part of your knowledge base. The growth of a practice isn't always about the new hire. Continue to focus energy to all those involved.
Growing membership in the ISPAN is a constant challenge. I am taking advice and reading on how to accomplish this task in a sustainable way. I have had an opportunity to reflect on what that means for our current practice, as we grow and stretch our wings adding attendings, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, staff, and even adding places of business. The process of growth can be overwhelming and seem like a mountain of a task. A productive strategy is to break each inch of growth into a small task instead of thinking about the miles we have to go to get to the goal.
Think local. Do you have a group of nurses with common interest? Could you start a journal club? A small conference that is monthly at your local hospital? A daylong conference once a year to draw those around you with similar practices? Growing those pieces contributes to the bigger puzzle of increasing our annual attendance at our meeting.
Listen. I have thought more about listening in the last 5 years since having children than I ever thought I would or could. Listening is active. Listening is sometimes silence. Listening is knowing that you don't have to "fix" what is being presented to you right then and there. Listening is a reflection. Listening to your superiors, those you manage, your coworkers, your partner at home, your children, your family, patients ... quite a lot of listening but it is probably worth it.
Above all, remain true to yourself.
Bailey Amanda, MSN, ACNP-BC, CWS, CPSN, ISPAN-F
President, ISPAN