Neonatal nurses care for infants and families at a time of transition in their lives, helping them adapt to the changes brought first by the birth of a baby, and then to the unanticipated challenges of having a preterm or sick newborn. Neonatal nurses are experts at dealing with change. That is our daily work!!
NANN and Advances in Neonatal Care are currently at an important time of transition. As your professional association, NANN is committed to serving the needs of neonatal nurses across their careers. Achieving this vision and purpose requires continual assessment, reassessment, and course adjustments over time.
This issue of ANC is one representing 2 major transitions for your journal: it is the first issue published by our new publisher, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, and it is the first issue produced by our interim editor, Cathy Witt, RNC, MS, NNP. By now you may have heard that we have completed our search process and have appointed Catherine Witt to the position of editor-in-chief for the next 4 years. The transition of publisher and editor at the same time has been a challenge, but also has offered great opportunity. It seems fitting at this juncture that we reflect upon where NANN and ANC have come from, and I am excited to share with you the future we envision for both.
Advances in Neonatal Care was launched in October 2001 as the official journal of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses under the visionary and creative leadership of Madge Buus-Frank, RNC, MS, ARNP, as editor-in-chief. Madge and the ANC Editorial Board developed an outstanding scholarly journal with high quality content and features. The journal was selected for indexing in MEDLINE by Index Medicus after only 2 years of publication, a significant achievement for such a young journal.
In 2004 the NANN Board and journal editor-in-chief met to review our mission and vision, and begin developing a strategic plan to achieve that vision. We determined that NANN and ANC should provide content and products to improve neonatal care and assist neonatal nurses in their practice at all phases of their careers. We also determined that the organization, and the journal particularly, needed more focus on content for staff nurses in the early years of their career, while continuing to provide support and high quality content for advanced practice nurses, researchers, and educators. We thank Madge and the ANC Editorial Board for their work toward achieving the goals of this strategic plan. Our new editor will build upon their work while continuing the high standards they have set for Advances in Neonatal Care and NANN.
Although we are proud of our achievements from the past 5 years, we are equally excited about the opportunities provided by our transition to a new publisher and new leadership for the journal. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) has the strongest presence in the nursing market of any publisher and offers NANN and ANC many wonderful new benefits:
* LWW's designers have developed a fresh new look for the journal cover and interior that we believe will improve readability and help you to find the content most of interest to you in each issue.
* ANC is now also accessible to all nurses via LWW's high-traffic Web site, http://www.nursingcenter.com, on a pay-per-view basis, giving us much greater exposure to nonmembers and additional revenue.
* Continuing education credits will be instantly available via a link from the NANN Web site to the LWW Web site. There will also be a discounted rate for NANN members. You will also be able to access your electronic journal subscription via the NANN Web site, providing easier access to this important member benefit.
* ANC will have more articles focused on topics of interest to new neonatal intensive care unit nurses and practicing bedside nurses and will continue to publish the high-quality research and evidence-based practice articles that have made ANC such a respected journal since its launch.
* LWW also will be able to promote NANN and ANC to a much larger audience, which ultimately will benefit NANN and you, our members, as we grow in size and influence.
NANN is also at a time of transition, albeit a more predictable one. Every 2 years, the membership elects a new board of directors and officers. January 2007 was the beginning of a new board's term of office. As I begin my term as president of NANN, I look forward to serving your needs, as members and neonatal nurses. The board of directors and I will focus on continuing to grow our association. One of my goals is to see our membership grow by 1000 additional members per year. That is a big-stretch goal, but it is achievable with your help. There are approximately 900 neonatal intensive care units in the United States alone, with tens of thousands of neonatal nurses. To add 1000 members, we just have to reach a small proportion of those neonatal nurses and show them how membership in NANN can help them in their careers.
Why is membership growth important? NANN's mission is to serve you and to be the voice of neonatal nursing in the larger healthcare community. That voice is only as loud as our membership numbers represent. We can be more influential in improving newborn care and neonatal nursing when we can show that we represent a significant number of neonatal nurses.
NANN also is here to help neonatal nurses advance in their careers. There are many volunteer opportunities that can help you in your own professional development. NANN provides you with educational opportunities and the standards that guide your practice and represents you in work that we do collaboratively with our physician colleagues and other nursing organizations. We hope that you will share Advances in Neonatal Care and the benefits of NANN membership with your colleagues. Please seize this time of transition as your opportunity to volunteer, speak up, and have YOUR voice heard. We are listening!!