I am pleased to report that two important decisions on the agenda for the NNSDO Board of Directors winter meeting were to approve the NNSDO Core Purpose and Strategic Goals and to endorse the Essential Nursing Competencies and Curricula Guidelines for Genetics and Genomics.
APPROVAL OF CORE PURPOSE AND STRATEGIC GOALS
The National Nursing Staff Development Organization (NNSDO) Board of Directors has been working over the past year on a program of Planning Strategically that would result in a road map for directing and managing NNSDO's future and the achievement of its short-term and long-term goals.
The Board worked with two facilitators from Tecker Consultants, LLC, at two separate sessions, one held in January 2005 and one held in March 2006. The Planning Team engaged in a knowledge-based and creative dialogue, which yielded a number of critical insights.
At the Board meeting held the day following the second session in March 2006, the Board approved NNSDO's Core Purpose and Strategic Goals.
Core Purpose: To advance the nursing specialty of staff development for the enhancement of health care outcomes.
Strategic Goals:
* Knowledge: The body of knowledge of staff development will reflect future trends and innovations in the specialty, as well as current standards and practices.
* Tools and Resources Goal: Staff development specialists will have access to cutting-edge, relevant, innovative, accessible, customized, practical tools, knowledge, and best practices.
* Research Goal: NNSDO will increasingly become an active advocate for and source of nursing staff development research that will generate new knowledge and best practices.
* Awareness: Staff development will be increasingly recognized as a contributor to quality healthcare outcomes.
Finally, the Board affirmed the following core values: Integrity, Transparency, Respect for Diversity, Advocacy for Lifelong Learning, and Reliability.
The Board will be presenting information about the strategic plan to members at the NNSDO convention in July 2007. Watch this section of JNSD and the NNSDO newsletter, TrendLines, for further updates from the Board on strategic initiatives.
ENDORSEMENT OF THE GENETICS AND GENOMICS ESSENTIAL COMPETENCIES
A second important decision was the endorsement of the Essential Nursing Competencies and Curricula Guidelines for Genetics and Genomics.
Nurses are familiar with genetics, the study of hereditary transmission and variation of characteristics. Genomics, a newer term that comes from the completion of the mapping of the human genome, is the science that studies organisms in terms of their full DNA sequence. Genomics is the study of all the genes in the human genome together, including their interactions with each other, the environment, and the influence of other psychosocial and cultural factors (Guttmacher & Collins, 2002). Genomics is a central science for nursing practice because all diseases and conditions have a genetic or genomic component.
The Essential Nursing Competencies and Curricula Guidelines for Genetics and Genomics has implications for staff development specialists in that nurses, as learners, partner with staff development specialists to maintain their clinical competence. According to the Scope and Standards of Practice for Nursing Professional Development, the staff development specialist as a leader "monitors issues and trends" and "provides guidance, resources, and knowledge for professional growth of others" (American Nurses Association, 2000). The essential nursing competencies and curricula guidelines are available to develop learning activities that assist the nurse to incorporate genetic and genomic information into practice.
The goal of these competencies and curricula guidelines is to have a minimum basis by which to prepare the nursing workforce to deliver competent genetic and genomic focused nursing care. The competencies are intended to guide academic curriculum content and continuing education learning activities based on the current state of the evidence. The essential competencies are integral to the practice of all registered nurses regardless of academic preparation, practice setting, role, or specialty. Competencies are in the area of professional responsibilities and in the professional practice domain. One example is that the nurse "identifies clients who may benefit from specific genetic and genomic information and/or services based on assessment data" (Consensus Panel, 2005). The Essential Competencies document also includes an extensive list of resources with contact information and description, including clinical genetic resources, support and advocacy groups, instructional resources, consumer resources, and more.
The nursing organizations that have endorsed the competencies are as follows:
* Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses
* American Association of Colleges of Nursing
* American Association of Occupational Health Nurses
* American Nurses Association
* American Nurses Credentialing Center
* American Psychiatric Nurses Association
* American Radiological Nurses Association
* American Society for Pain Management Nursing
* Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses
* Council of International Neonatal Nurses
* Developmental Disabilities Nurses Association
* International Society of Nurses in Genetics
* National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
* National Nursing Staff Development Organization
* Oncology Nursing Society
* Pediatric Endocrinology Nursing Society
* Sigma Theta Tau International
* Society for Vascular Nursing
* Society of Pediatric Nurses
* Southern Regional Education Board Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing
This initiative was funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Human Genome Research Institute and Office of Rare Disease in collaboration with the American Nurses Association. A copy of the competencies and curricula guidelines can be downloaded at http://www.nursingworld.org/ethics/genetics/competencies.htm.
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