As the spring approaches, I take great pleasure in sharing a few of the activities and events that Society of Trauma Nursing (STN) has been involved in.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

2007 Annual Conference: We have just wrapped up the 10th Annual STN Conference; Innovations & Outcomes on Saturday, March 24, and Sunday, March 25, 2007, in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. Attendance and vendor support were at an all time high. In addition, our Call for Abstracts produced 40 abstracts! All were interesting and well written, showing the innovative and scholarly activities of our members and other trauma professionals. Because we had limited room and time, we had the luxury of selecting 5 excellent cutting-edge abstracts for oral presentation and 30 as poster presentations. We encourage anyone who was not selected to try again next year. Such interest shows the maturing of trauma nursing as a specialty, which is something that we are deeply invested in nurturing.

Highlights of the conference included the STN Distinguished Lectureship given by Karen A. McQuillan, RN, MSN, on Sunday.

Thanks to Pat Manion, Annual Conference Chair, and the hardworking, creative Annual Conference Committee for an excellent conference.

Looking forward to 2008: For those of you who have been asking if STN will ever rotate the location of the annual conference, I have good news! The 2008 annual STN Conference will be held on April 9-11, 2008, at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel. This will be the first time that the conference has changed location and it is in response to membership requests, the continuing growth of the organization, and growth of the conference attendance. So mark your calendars now!

ELECTIONS

At the end of 2006, we once again held elections for the STN Board of Directors. The process continues to get easier, thanks to the work of our home office. If we have your correct e-mail address, you should have received a personalized e-mail with your membership number allowing you to log on and complete your voting instantly. This new process helped us to have the largest voting turn out yet. If you did not receive an e-mail such as this, then please contact the office at [email protected] or call 847-657-6745 to update or troubleshoot your information. As our processes become more electronic, it will be more important for us to have as many accurate e-mail addresses as possible.

We would like to congratulate all of the newly elected and reelected members! The current STN Board of Directors is as follows:

Marla L. Vanore, RN, MHA, President

Amy Koestner, RN, MSN, President Elect

Michael Glenn, RN, Secretary*

Robynn Gough-Smith, RN, Treasurer

Judy Mikhail, RN, MSN, MBA, Immediate Past President

Beth Broering, RN, MSN, Director at Large**

Will Chapleau, EMT-P, RN, Director at Large

Susan Cox, RN, MSN, Director at Large*

Andrea Delprado, RN, Director at Large**

Deborah Harkins, RN, BSN, MBA, Director at Large

Dorothy Kelley, RN, MSN, Director at Large*

Jacqueline McQuay, RN, MSN, Director at Large

Janice Delgiorno, MSN, RN, Membership Chair

Richard Henn, RN, BSN, MEd, ATCN Chair

Patricia Manion, RN, MS, Annual Conference Chair

Kathleen Martin, RN, MSN, JTN Chair

Connie Mattice, RN, MSN, TOPIC Chair

Kathryn Schroeter, PhD, RN, Editor, JTN

2007 STN LEADERSHIP AWARD

During the Annual Membership Meeting, which took place at the opening session of the Annual Conference, we presented the 2007 STN Leadership Award. Ellen MacKenzie, PhD, Director of the Center for Injury Prevention at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, was the recipient of this award. Dr MacKenzie has advanced the science of Injury Prevention and the continued evolution of Trauma Systems with a career of groundbreaking research and publication in these fields. STN and the entire Trauma Community are in her debt.

Dr MacKenzie is the first recipient of the STN Leadership Award. STN has had an awards program for a number of years; however, starting in 2007, we consolidated the award categories into a single powerful recognition. The purpose of the award is to provide the STN membership with a vehicle to recognize someone in a medical or nonmedical field who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in trauma through practice, research, publication, education, patient advocacy, injury prevention, trauma system development, or legislative involvements during a career at a local, state, or national level.

I would like to thank all of our members who submitted nominations and for those who served on the STN Awards Committee. The nominations were all well thought out, and the nominees were all deserving. I encourage you to participate again next year. If you would like to learn more about the STN Awards Program, please visit http://www.traumanursesoc.org/mem_awards.html.

STN/EAST COLLABORATION

On January 16-20, 2007, STN once again collaborated with the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) during the 20th Annual EAST Scientific Assembly. STN presented TOPIC (Trauma Outcomes and Performance Improvement Course) and led 3 Sunrise Sessions and 2 Plenary sessions. In addition, STN members were chosen to discuss 2 papers during the Scientific Sessions. This unique collaboration provided plenty of education, enjoyment, and networking with our surgical associates.

STN COMMITTEE FOCUS

Society of Trauma Nursing has a number of dynamic, dedicated Committees and Special Interest Groups. These groups help STN to achieve its mission and to advance the name of STN as we grow as an organization. In this and future issues, I will be highlighting some of these groups in this column. The first committee featured this month is the Pediatric Committee and Special Interest Group (SIG).

The STN Pediatric Trauma SIG has more than 250 members and continues to grow! The STN Pediatric Trauma Committee, a small working subcommittee of the SIG, recently expanded their membership. These 12 members participate in monthly conference calls, using their expertise to guide the direction of this SIG. Current members of the STN Pediatric Trauma Committee are the following:

* Lynn Schweer (cochair): Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio, [email protected]

* Sally Snow (cochair): Cook Children's Hospital, Fort Worth, Tex, [email protected]

* Kathy Haley: Columbus Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio

* Sue Cox: Children's Hospital, San Diego, Calif

* Susan Ziegfeld: Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md

* Debi Balise: Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif

* Chris McKenna: Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa

* Cinda Werner: Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis

* Diana Fendya: EMS-C, Chesterfield, Mo

* Laura Stephens: Children's Hospital of Austin, Austin, Tex

* Heather Kulp: Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa

* Karen MacCauley: All Children's Hospital, St Petersburg, Fla

Members of the STN Pediatric Trauma SIG are nurses interested in the care of injured children. Members not only are from children's hospitals but also include nurses from adult hospitals that care for children. All are welcome! Topics of current interest include pediatric education, Emergency Medical Services for Children, collaboration on the development of a national pediatric trauma registry, and pediatric benchmarking. Areas of interest constantly evolve as the SIG continues to grow and develop. The Pediatric Trauma SIG meets yearly at the STN conference for networking and discussion of yearly projects. STN members should contact cochairs for more information on how to participate.