Leadership Message

Association News

CNRN Corner

Foundation Corner

International Corner

Industry Trends

Product Feature

Chapter News

Printer-Friendly Version

Bylaw Amendments Approved by Membership

• Article IV—Meetings, Section 6: adds a definition of quorum as 10% of members entitled to vote, consistent with requirements of Illinois law
• Article V—Voting Rights: clarifies number of votes required for mail (including electronic mail) voting
• Article XV—Gifts: outlines provisions in which the association has the power to accept gifts
• Article XVII—Waiver of Notice: clarifies process for waiving notice (of meetings, etc.)
• Article XVIII—Indemnification: requires the association to indemnify all officers, directors, committee members, employees, and agents of the association
• Article XIX—Use of Electronic Communication: clarifies that actions and notices may be delivered or transmitted by electronic mail or other electronic means.

   Removal of the following provisions as they pertain to the association’s operations and inclusion in the AANN Policies and Procedures:

• Article XIV—Awards
• Article XV—Publications.

Voting

• Article IX—Nominations and Elections: adds a reference to using the candidate selection criteria in the operational policies and procedures when determining the final slate of candidates for election.
• Article XVI—Amendments: clarifies that a quorum must be present when voting on bylaw amendments and clarifies the means by which bylaws may be presented for a membership vote.

   A full set of the revised bylaws can be viewed on the AANN Web site, www.AANN.org, in the “About AANN” section. We thank members for your active participation in AANN and in this important vote!

Final Call for Nominations for Board of Directors

Are you interested in getting more involved in helping shape the future of your specialty? It's not too late to apply to be a member of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) Board of Directors! AANN is a member-driven organization whose leaders are determined by its diverse membership. Members share a commitment to the advancement of neuroscience nursing as a specialty and promote excellence in patient care.
   The nominating committee is looking for members who are interested in becoming part of the AANN leadership and helping shape the future of neuroscience nursing. Applications for the 2009–2010 Board of Directors are being accepted through July 14, 2008. Open positions include president-elect, secretary-treasurer, and two directors-at-large. The election will be held in October, and terms will begin in conjunction with the 2009 AANN Annual Educational Meeting in Las Vegas, March 28–31, 2009.
   To learn more about these positions or to download application materials, please access the candidate application materials on the AANN Web site, www.AANN.org. Completed applications must be submitted electronically no later than close of business on July 14, 2008. Please direct any questions about the nomination process to 2008 Nominating Committee Chair Norma McNair at NMcNair@mednet.ucla.edu.

JNN To Receive Impact Factor

The Journal of Neuroscience Nursing (JNN) was recently selected by Thomson Scientific to receive an Impact Factor (IF) rating. The IF is used to evaluate the impact that selected professional journals have on the body of scientific knowledge. Over the next year, Thomson Scientific will index JNN in order to calculate its IF; JNN will receive an IF score during 2009.
   To learn more about the IF and how it affects JNN, please check out Susan Carroll’s editorial, “We Are Making an Impact,” in the upcoming August issue of JNN.

JNN Ensures Compliance with NIH Public Access Policy

Effective April 7, 2008, a new policy from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires that scientists who receive NIH funding for research submit the resulting journal articles to PubMed Central. This policy—the NIH Public Access Policy—ensures that the published results of all NIH-funded research are available to the public. To meet these requirements, the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing (JNN) will provide final published copies of NIH-funded articles to PubMed Central on an annual basis. JNN authors will not need to take any action to ensure their compliance aside from disclosing NIH funding as part of the JNN publishing process.
   For further information on the NIH Public Access Policy, particularly as it pertains to applications for future NIH funding, please visit http://publicaccess.nih.gov.

Online Calendar of Events Now Available

Keep track of important dates with the AANN Calendar of Events! This new feature of the AANN Web site includes key deadlines, meeting and conference details, and other important information for the neuroscience nursing community.
   To view the calendar of events, click here or go to www.AANN.org and click on the Calendar of Events link at the bottom of the page.

Member Benefits

There are many benefits associated with your membership in AANN. These include

• Journal of Neuroscience Nursing—AANN’s peer-reviewed bimonthly journal containing articles on neurological technology, procedures, and the role of the neuroscience nurse
• E-mail discussion lists—clinically-focused Listservs to network with fellow members and colleagues

   Be sure to take advantage of these benefits to make the most of your membership!

Celebrating Neuroscience Nurses Week 2008

Neuroscience Nurses Week (NNW) was observed May 18–24, 2008, presented by the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN), the American Board of Neuroscience Nursing (ABNN), and the Neuroscience Nursing Foundation (NNF). Many of you shared with us how you celebrated this special week that honors the time, value, and commitment that neuroscience nurses across the country and around the globe dedicate to their patients and families. Events included in-services, giveaways, and neuro-focused games. These events increased exposure and heightened community awareness of the valuable contributions neuroscience nurses make year-round.

This was the first year Neuroscience–9Northwest, the neuroscience unit at Children’s Hospital Boston, celebrated NNW with organized activities. The unit even created a flyer to promote the week’s activities in advance. Activities included a breakfast, a neuro sudoku, a neuro puzzle, and daily in-services on topics including ketogenic diet, subgaleal shunts, and moyamoya disease. To support the week’s activities, the unit sold t-shirts with a logo depicting a child’s drawing of a brain inside a heart. The organizers also gave out brain tumor awareness pins, which were provided by the National Brain Tumor Foundation, to all of their certified neuroscience registered nurses (CNRNs).
   The neuroscience nurses at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City marked NNW with “A League of Our Own” theme and various baseball-related activities. For “opening day,” Nicole A. Wolthuis, BSN RN, asked her two nephews, who were wearing Milwaukee Brewers t-shirts, to kick off the week by passing out peanuts to the nurses. The bags of peanuts carried the message “We’re nutt’n without our neuro nurses.” Throughout the week, staff members played a baseball board game with neuroscience questions. The teams were the Day Shift versus the Night Shift—and the Day Shift won! There was also a “game day” that included a baseball piñata and a spinning-baseball race. In addition to these activities, there was a staff luncheon and an online seizure lecture by a hydrocephalus researcher.

Nurses at Primary Children's Medical Center played baseball-themed games.

   At United Hospital in St. Paul, MN, three in-services were held during NNW to provide an opportunity for neuroscience nurses to increase their level of knowledge on neuroscience products. In one such in-service, representatives from Medtronic taught nurses about ventriculoperitoneal shunts and lumbar drains. In another special event, gift bags of goodies and plants were delivered to the hospital’s five CNRNs; the gesture was meant to encourage growth and development in neuroscience education. NNW celebrations were capped off with a cake, which was decorated with the NNW 2008 logo, delivered to the neuroscience unit and the neuroscience intensive care unit (NICU) for staff members to enjoy.

Amy Huber and Linda Sherman conduct Medtronic in-service	Karla Sherman, MA RN, and Kelly Gannon, MSN RN CNRN ACNS-BC, deliver gift bags.

   The ortho/neuro/trauma unit at Bethesda North Hospital in Cincinnati conducted a community stroke risk assessment survey on May 12, just prior to the start of NNW. Nurses assessed 142 participants for blood pressure, pulse regularity, carotid bruits, cholesterol, and glucose. At final evaluation stations, nurses and participants reviewed the participant’s risk for stroke over the next 10 years based on the data from the Framingham Heart Study. Literature on stroke signs and symptoms, risk factors, and correct response information was distributed to the participants.
   During NNW, nurses received guidelines for the emergency treatment of stroke from the hospital’s Genentech representative and completed William V. Hofmann Jr.’s stroke quiz, which appeared in the September 2006 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing.
   The Inland Northwest Chapter of AANN celebrated NNW by making treats for the neuro staff at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, WA. After individual nurses baked 3–4 dozen cookies, the chapter gathered together to assemble platters of cookies for the nurses on the neuro floor, the NICU, and the neuroradiology department.

NNW celebrates the contributions neuroscience nurses make year-round, and the neuro team at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, IL, shared the activities they engage in throughout the year. They have a brain and spinal cord injury prevention program, called “Think First,” which they have presented at more than 25 area high schools; they are planning to expand the program to include grade schools. The program includes a PowerPoint presentation on brain and spinal cord injury and prevention and a VIP—voice of injury prevention—who gives a presentation on his or her injuries and the effects on his or her life. In addition, the hospital has a stroke team that does several community events each year. This year, their stroke prevention and education programs have included caregiver support groups, a first-grade health fair, a grandparent support group, and a blood pressure and stroke risk assessment screening.

Members of the Think First program	Members of the stroke team

One neuroscience nurse shared a story about a poem her daughter had written for NNW in 2005. At the time, Jody Zanca, MN RN, worked in the NICU at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Jody’s daughter, Tanya, who was afflicted with cerebral palsy, loved to write poetry. When her mother asked her to write a poem for NNW, she eagerly took on the task, asking her mother for more information about what neuroscience nurses do. Jody explained to Tanya that because Charity Hospital was the only trauma hospital in the state at the time, most of the patients there had sustained trauma injuries, including many brain and spinal injuries. Tanya responded, “Oh, your patients are like Humpty Dumpty.” Jody shared the poem with nurses in her unit, and we would like to share it with you as a celebration of neuroscience nurses.

Humpty Dumpty was sitting on that wall
Nobody knows what caused his fall
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put poor ole Hump together again
The crack in his head they were not prepared for
Too bad for Hump they didn’t know about Charity’s 7th floor
‘Cause they would have had old Humpty fixed up in no time flat
That’s where their specialty is at
There are the best, the head and shoulder above the rest
They will retrain your brain to send its wave and teach it to behave
You will be regrooving and moving much better than new
Thanks to the group on 7th floor neuro
Humpty Dumpty sat on that wall
Nobody knows what caused his fall
We do know that the rhyme would have a much different ending
If to the Charity’s Neuroscience department he would have went

Thank you to all who shared NNW 2008 activities with us!