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Association NewsCall for Board of Directors Nominations Now OpenElecting leadership is a crucial, fundamental responsibility of all AANN members. Your vote gives you the power to make a difference and influence the future of AANN. The AANN Board of Directors election will take place online this October, with results announced in November 2009 after the votes have been independently tabulated. Completed candidate applications must be received by July 31, 2009.AANN is accepting applications for the following positions for the 2009 slate:
AANN Responds to Members' Requests for Increased Access, In the past year, AANN leadership has listened intently to members' requests for greater access to educational and other products relevant to neuroscience nursing. AANN members are continually seeking cost-effective opportunities to earn CE credit and learn about best practices. As the industry's premier resource, AANN has responded to members by providing more content-based material online. |
| Conference Recordings Audio recordings of sessions from the AANN 41st Annual Educational Meeting in Las Vegas, NV, have been available for purchase from Fleetwood Onsite Conference Recording since March 28, the first full day of the meeting. Lisa Johnson, BSN, ICU staff and charge nurse and AANN member since 2007, purchased all the sessions and says, |
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Individual sessions are also available for purchase for those like Mary A. Budi, BA RN ACLS CNRN, a staff nurse in neuroscience trauma and ICU/IMC units and an AANN member since the 1980s, who was at the meeting, but was unable to attend a particular session.
"I was at another presentation at the times [the sessions I purchased] were offered, [and I purchased the recordings] for self-education and awareness."
Members continue to share the value of these recordings, especially during an economic climate that does not always allow for nurses to attend the annual meeting.
"I chose [my purchased session] because I have a special interest in learning more about neuromuscular and endocrine—I work in medical genetics and pediatric neurology. I did attend the conference but I had to leave early because finances would not allow me to stay for the entire meeting and I live on the East Coast, so I did not have the opportunity to hear the speakers for the presentations that I purchased," says Michelle M. Canfield, MSN RN FNP, AANN member since 2006.
Webcast
| During Neuroscience Nurses Week, AANN also debuted the association's first Webcast, Pearls of Stroke Education for Patients, Family, Professional, and Public. Speakers Claranne Mathiesen, MSN RN CNRN, Kathy Morrison, MSN RN CNRN, and Jean Rose-DeRenzy, MS RN CNRN, offered insight on planning and presenting stroke educational strategies to patients, professional staff, and the public during a 60-minute session. Members were able to attend the live session at a discounted rate. The Webcast recording will soon be available on the AANN Web site for purchase. |  |
Collaboration and sharing of information was among the most commonly named benefits of this Webcast, as noted by Stacie Stevens, PhD FNP BC RN, stroke program coordinator and AANN member since 2007. Stevens said, "[The Webcast] provided some ideas that we can institute at our facility. [I] really loved the Weblink resource for language translations...I invited seven other nurses to join me."
Similarly, Roseann Pokoluk, MA BC RN CNRN LMT, nursing education coordinator and AANN member since 1980, felt the Webcast was helpful because, "as a nurse educator I focus on nursing education, but [the Web cast was relevant for] colleagues from rehabilitation and patient education as well."
Keep an Eye Out for More Products
AANN plans to make similar resources for education, collaboration, and knowledge sharing available to members, particularly through the AANN Web site. Conference recordings are available for purchase online, and the Webcast will soon be available through the AANN Online Store. Be sure to check www.AANN.org frequently for updates.
AANN President Sees Opportunity for Collaboration in CANN Membership
| The Canadian Association of Neuroscience Nurses (CANN) held their 40th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions June 9–12, 2009, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The theme for CANN's 40th anniversary was "Matters of the Brain: Navigating Neurons." The oral and poster presentations addressed a variety of neuroscience topics including injury prevention, parental-support needs in perinatal stroke, cooling as a way to preserve the brain, moral distress and ethical dilemmas, and subdural empyema secondary to sinusitis, to name a few. Wilma Koopman, a member of CANN and AANN, gave the keynote address, "Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy: What to Tell Your Patient About Treatment and Outcomes." Neuroscience physicians held meetings at the same time in a nearby hotel, and the nurses were invited to attend their scientific sessions as well as their exhibitor reception. AANN President Cathy Cartwright (center) was privileged to attend and bring greetings from AANN. CANN and AANN have enjoyed a collegial relationship throughout the years with members attending each other's annual meetings. "I find that the warm and friendly Canadian neuroscience nurses face many of the same patient care issues that we do here in the United States, providing many opportunities for collaboration. I look forward to seeing many of them at our meeting, March 20–23, 2010, in Baltimore." |
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2nd World Parkinson Congress in Glasgow, Scotland
| AANN recently became an organizational partner of the World Parkinson Congress, an international meeting designed to advance the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) by bringing together a full spectrum of those who serve the PD community and those living with the disease. One of AANN's SFGs is devoted to nurses who care for patients with movement disorders, and this meeting is especially pertinent to those interested in the health, research, and care of people treating and being treated for PD. |  |
The congress coordinators anticipate the setting will create a worldwide dialogue intended to expedite the discovery of a cure and best treatment practices for this devastating disease. For more information, visit www.worldpdcongress.org.
Interested in the History of AANN?
Janice L. Hinkle, PhD RN CNRN; Virginia Prendergast, NP; Elizabeth A. Reedy, PhD RNAANN members may recall that the association donated its important historical materials to the Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry (CNHI) at the University of Virginia School of Nursing in 2008. In fact, Arlene W. Keeling, PhD RN, attended the AANN 40th Annual Educational Meeting in Nashville, TN, to acknowledge the dedication of the collection. The purpose of this article is to update members about the CNHI and how our materials have enhanced the Advanced Nursing Practice Collections currently held at CNHI.
According to the CNHI Web site, "The Center works with the University's Health Sciences Library Historical Collections in acquiring and preserving nursing materials such as personal papers, letters, reports, photographs, and nursing textbooks. Agencies, schools, and organizations [such as AANN] are encouraged to donate their records and photographs so that the institutional history of nursing may be documented. Through collecting and making available such materials, CNHI serves as a national resource open to visiting scholars, faculty, students, and others interested in the study of nursing and healthcare history. The collections are housed in the secure, climate-controlled Historical Collections of the University of Virginia Health Sciences Library. Here, the materials are described and catalogued in both the library's online catalog and in the Online Computer Library Center, a national computer database of bibliographic information. Both of these bibliographic catalogs are searchable on the Internet."
During 2008, one of our most prominent AANN members, Agnes M. Walker, took the time to go through her papers and donate further materials to the center. Members can read about this by clicking here.
If you are in an organizing mindset and happen to find some items that you think the CNHI might be interested in, please contact one of the former task force members for assistance in donating your materials.
Member Benefits
AANN Member LISTSERVs®Do you need a quick answer to a burning professional question? Look no further. AANN Member LISTSERVs® offer valuable discussion groups for members to inquire about procedures or policies used in clinical settings and exchange information about challenging professional issues, newsworthy topics, and AANN activities. LISTSERVs are arranged according to clinical practice areas, and members may join as many as they choose.
| Advanced Practice Nurse Epilepsy Geriatrics Movement Disorders Neuro-Oncology |
Neuromuscular/MS Neurotrauma Pediatric Spine Stroke |
- The LISTSERV should not be used for job searches, newsletter distribution, press releases, or meeting announcements. If you are a job seeker or employer, visit to the Career Center. Please send any meeting announcements to the AANN National Office at info@aann.org or call 888/557-2266.
- To subscribe to an e-mail discussion list, click on the topic area. This will take you to the online subscription center for that topic area's list. You can return to the online subscription center for that list at any time to manage various aspects of your subscription (to stop receiving e-mail temporarily, cancel, rejoin, etc.). You may join as many LISTSERVs as you choose.
- Any postings are those of individual members and not AANN, unless otherwise specified, and do not convey or imply an endorsement by AANN. Misuse of this policy will result in a warning and, in the case of repeated abuses, can result in the termination of a participant's access to the LISTSERV.
Journal of Neuroscience Nursing
For many years, AANN members have expressed that they found the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing (JNN) to be one of their most valuable member benefits. Why? There is no better source for find peer-reviewed, original articles on advances in neurosurgical and neurological techniques, nursing theory and research, and commentary on the roles of the neuroscience nurse on the healthcare team. Neuroscience nurses working in clinical, research, administrative, and educational settings find what they need to know in JNN, because it applies to patient care and continuing education. In early 2009, AANN announced its new collaboration with publisher Lippincott Williams & Wilkins in producing JNN, offering increased exposure and recognition for AANN and the journal. JNN now has its own Web site, www.JNNOnline.com, where members and subscribers can access current and archived content.
Did you know?
- Each issue of JNN offers 1 or 2 hours of CE credit to members at a 50% discount off the regular price for online continuing education courses, starting with the 2009 issues of JNN.
- JNN is now included on www.nursingcenter.com, a portal site to nursing and healthcare journals, advancing AANN's status as a leading provider of neuroscience nursing information and education.
- Submitting manuscripts online for publication just got easier with Editorial Manager. This new online format is now the only way manuscripts will be accepted.
Click here to access and learn more about this award-winning AANN publication.
JNNOnline, Resources On DemandJNNOnline.com is up and running. Please take time to log on to the Web site and familiarize yourself with its features. There are many features in the Web site, including the ability to preview publish-ahead-of-print articles, search topics that you hold dear, and review article collections, as well as a host of other options. You also can begin sending JNN video, audio, and other digital content to be launched onto the site; you can share assessment tools and rating scales—length is not an obstacle in this format—with your colleagues. My August editorial will provide additional information about the site. |
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V. Susan Carroll, MS RN CNE
JNN Editor-in-Chief
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Meet Us in BaltimoreCrab cakes, the National Aquarium, Fell's Point, Camden Yards—you won't want to miss AANN's 42nd Annual Educational Meeting, March 20–23, 2010, in Baltimore, MD, also known as "Charm City." Visit www.Baltimore.org to plan your visit when you attend the meeting and enjoy what Baltimore has to offer—terrific seafood, quirky neighborhoods, great shopping, museums, and the Inner Harbor. |
AANN Calendar of Events
You can now post your own items to the AANN Calendar of Events. Please view the posting policy and fill out the Calendar Posting Order Form with information about your event. To view the posting policy and order form, please click here.Click here to view the calendar of events.
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