Each year as the gavel is passed from President to President, the following words are said:
I entrust in you with the mandate of the membership-to guard the interests of the association and its members-with a level head, a strong sense of responsibility and commitment. We have the faith that you will lead NAON well. On behalf of the entire membership, I pledge you our support as you and the executive board lead the association toward its goals.
These words have become ones that I have referenced many times this past year. I continue to be humbled to be your 30th President. I can, with all certainty, say that together with the NAON board and management firm, NAON has achieved many goals this past year, all that have and will continue to have a positive impact on NAON.
It was my privilege this year to represent NAON at national and international conferences. Nurses are being looked at as leaders within the healthcare community, and as such we have been asked to advocate for healthcare and our patients. On two separate occasions I had the opportunity to go to the hill in order to speak with my representatives about healthcare, funding for research, equal access to healthcare for all ages, and support for specialty care. In October, I attended the Bone and Joint Decade Global Network Conference in Washington, DC, with Past President Cindy Howe. There was a large US contingent that was joined by representatives from 56 nations. The 4-day strategic planning session highlighted the enormous burden posed by musculoskeletal disorders. The primary goals of the conference were to raise the awareness and advocate for musculoskeletal health and using the discussions to develop national and international plans for the future of bone and joint health policy around the world. As one of the few nurses who were in attendance, I was most encouraged that our voices were respectfully heard and NAON is exploring opportunities for increased involvement in US Bone and Joint Decade endeavors. While attending the National Nursing Alliance meeting, President-Elect Cherrie Mains and I spoke with Becky Patton, President of the American Nurses Association. She stressed that as nurses support healthcare reform, nursing leadership has the responsibility to our members to make sure that the nursing presence must be at the table, making decisions that are critical to patient care and member recognition in legislation.
NAON has strengthened our relationship with the American Nurses Association this year, and in response for member organizations to submit names for persons to serve on the National Quality Forum, NAON submitted the names of Dr. Debra L. Sietsema, PhD, RN, and Debra Palmer, RN, ONC, MSN, FNP-C, for consideration. Both of these excellent candidates were accepted to serve on the National Quality Forum's National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Patient Outcomes Bone & Joint Technical Advisory. NAON continues to bring our nurses to the table where quality-indicated patient-centered care is discussed, implemented, and evaluated.
Director Christy Weaver attended the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) in November 2009. I would encourage you to go to the NAON Web site and link to NIAMS as it, too, is part of this musculoskeletal community. The mission of the NIAMS is to support research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases, the training of basic and clinical scientists to carry out this research, and the dissemination of information on research progress in these diseases. Many of the NIAMS staff members will present at professional meetings and many do not accept gratuitous fees and their Best Bones Forever, an osteoporosis prevention initiative targeting girls aged from 9 to 14 years, is excellent and one that can be used in your communities http://www.bestbonesforever.gov.
I thank all of the NAON volunteers for their outstanding contributions to NAON this past year-you are NAON.
The education and practice and research committees and approver unit have done an exceptional job with more projects coming. In the 2008 member survey you asked for continued quality, research-based education projects. In addition to the AAOS courses and an excellent congress, the following list attests to your voice being heard and an outstanding job by these committees:
1. There were 107 continuing education programs approved through NAON Approver Unit in 2009.
2. Twenty-three orthopaedic nursing review courses were held in 2009.
3. One NP orthopaedic nursing review course was revised/held in 2009.
4. One CNS orthopaedic nursing review course was revised/held in 2009.
5. The Executive Board endorsed the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing Specialty Nursing Association Global Vision Statement on Care of Older Adults. NAON will be working with the Harford Institute on future projects.
6. Practice points on postoperative nausea and vomiting, delirium, hemorrhage, and constipation are on the Web with more to be developed. Those to be developed in 2010 are postoperative urinary retention, acute pain, chronic pain, and nosocomial surgical site infection.
7. Under sponsorship of Ortho-McNeil, THR and TKR Patient Education Manuals were developed and are on Web site with a corresponding Staff Ed Manual, which will be on the Web site as well.
8. The revision of the Core Curriculum (7th ed.) is under way under the direction of Adrianne Avillion, DEd, RN.
9. Four new clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are currently under review: thromboembolic disease, surgical site infection, acute postoperative pain, and femoral nerve blocks. Four additional CPGs will be developed in 2010.
10. The current NAON Scope & Standards of Orthopaedic Nursing Practice are under review of the practice unit. The document will be fully revised and posted to the NAON Web site in 2010.
11. Position Statements were reviewed, updated, and approved by the Executive board for posting on the Web site. Four additional position statements are being identified for development in 2010.
Congratulations to Jan Foecke, Director of Programs, and our office staff for a successful American Nurses Credentialing Center-Commission on Accreditation (ANC-COA) review. The ANC-COA was most impressed with the level of professionalism and the ease of the review due to diligent record keeping. NAON is proud to announce that we have received reaccreditation for 6 years!!
The Leadership Search Taskforce (LSTF) taskforce brought forth by laws changes that, while controversial, were ratified by the membership and will serve to allow for ease of governance and sound leadership succession.
Thank you to our NAON Chicago Smith Bucklin team. Our transition to an in-house all-on-line way of doing business has had its challenges, but they have supported our members in all that they do. The electronic NAON News look is most professional and certainly in keeping with other organizations-thanks everyone for a job well done and for personally supporting this president no matter what the request was.
If you haven't been to the Web site, you truly have missed a wonderful opportunity as our Web Editor, Erin Hart, has done, and continues to do, an outstanding job at keeping our articles and information up-to-date.
To Mary Faut Rodts, the Editor of Orthopaedic Nursing and past president of NAON, thank you for your continued support of our organization. You have personally supported me with your wisdom and encouragement-something that all presidents need.
As we look fondly at the memories in the past president themes, they remind me of the phases that NAON and healthcare have gone through. As I weave through these themes, I see the history of NAON unfolding, each year with its challenges and changes, each year with its growth, and each year partnering with you, our members, to deliver the services that you have asked for.
1981 Beyond the Blue Horizon
1982 Knowledge, Wisdom, Unity ... Key to the Future
1983 Panorama of Orthopaedics: Perspectives for Expertise
1984 Beyond the Horizon: A Commitment to Excellence
1985 Nursing Influence: Power Within Our Grasp
1986 Visions: Today's Knowledge for Tomorrow's Practice
1987 Professional Growth: Directive for the Future
1988 Standards for Professional Excellence
1989 Dreams to Reality on the Threshold of a New Era
1990 Knowledge: Empowering the Professional
1991 Diversity in Orthopaedics: Meet the Challenge
1992 Steering Toward Prevention
1993 Shared Visions ... Common Goals
1994 Visions to Reality ... The Stage Is Set
1995 Facets of Time
1996 Cultural Diversity in Health Care
1997 Make a Difference
1998 Step Into the Future
1999 Managing Change
2000 Soaring to Greater Heights
2001 Focus on the Mission
2002 Unleashing the Power of Orthopaedic Nursing
2003 Shining a Beacon of Light
2004 Passion in Your Bones
2005 Leading the Way to Endless Possibilities
2006 Partnering for Growth
2007 Energizing the Future
2008 The NAON Network: Gateway to Excellence
2009 Uniting the World of Orthopaedics
2010 NAON at 30: Memories and Momentum
This board has done outstanding work, always keeping NAON, the mission, and the members in mind while making all decisions. So often I heard how will this affect the member? Each time you and NAON were the reasons for decisions, the reason for strategic thinking, and the reason for growth and change. As I turn the gavel over to Cherie Mains at our 30th Congress in Seattle, WA, I turn over not only the memories of NAON to her but also the momentum that the 2009-2010 Executive Board has given to our organization.
Cherie,
I entrust in you with the mandate of the membership-to guard the interests of the association and its members-with a level head, a strong sense of responsibility and commitment. We have the faith that you will lead NAON well. On behalf of the entire membership, I pledge you our support as you and the executive board lead the association toward its goals.