Vol 4 Issue 3 July 2016 GRAC NEWSLETTER EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

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1 GRAC NEWSLETTER EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Beth Torres, PhD, RN, CCRN President Tonka Williams, MHA, RN, CMSRN, PCCN President-Elect Cheri Lenzi, BSN, RN, CCRN Secretary Shanna Dennis, RN Treasurer Michelle Orr, RN Program Chair Jennifer Powers, BSN, RN, CCRN Membership Chair Renee Crawford, MSN, RN, PCCN Newsletter Chair Michelle Legg, RN Facebook web designer DeAnn Smith, BSN, RN, PCCN-CSC Past President Outgoing President s Message GRAC had a wonderful year. Here are a few of our accomplishments. We had 7 programs total; 6 of which were planned by the program planning committee. Debbie DeGraba and her team planned the 7th event, Extravaganza. The average attendance at monthly programs was 35 people. The evaluations were overwhelmingly positive, and it seems that GRAC and non-grac members enjoyed the opportunity to learn great things while being able to network with their critical care colleagues. Each monthly event included a business meeting, presentation, and dinner for attendees. The Programs schedule should be ready the end of July. See the Save the date for when our programs are planned. In March, we co-sponsored the annual Odyssey Conference with VCU. AACN Karen McQuillan provided the key note address (See related article on Odyssey). We conducted 5 community service projects. In the fall 2015 we collected food for the Central Virginia Food Bank; toys for the Richmond Christmas Store; clothing for local shelter; toiletries for Safe Haven; and made 65 care packages for local homeless. If you have ideas for community projects for the year, please contact Kristen Gill, Community Service Chair at kristengill21@gmail.com. GRAC also hosted the Region 4 workshop on April 9 th. This workshop helps AACN chapters in our region to develop leaders as well as strengthen and grow chapters. The evening prior to the workshop, we hosted an educational program at the Hard Shell. Both events were well attended. It has been a busy year as President of GRAC. I feel very blessed to be involved in such an active chapter in our nursing community. I wish Tonka Williams much success as your President of the local chapter of GRAC- AACN. Thank you again for the honor and privilege of serving as your President of GRAC. With warm regards, Beth Torres, PhD, RN, CCRN GRAC AACN President 1

2 Membership 83 new members from 7/2015 to 6/2016 New members since last newsletter (Feb. 2016): Olivia Damico Thomas Hunt Katie Garrison Tashika Nixon Kelsey Acuna Kristal Briggs Imani Chira Laura Farmer Amy Hill Deborah Gray Amber Angelidis Leah Benson Sara Wechsler Teura Robertson Marcia Mallory Anna Lowry Nicole Duell Stephanie Chuang Michael Snodgrass Ashley Hemphill Joyce Hart Andrew Edwards Nadine Wendt Sara Vondersmith, Rebecca Struzzieri Silver Sanders Jessica Roberts Lauren Pugh Jacquelyn Patton Halley Nitz Margaret Malott Kristina Knode Arron Jackson Shawlawn Freeman- Hicks Monica Fearnow Emily Brock Travia Binford Iris Smith Emily Machalek, Chrystal McIver Katie Garrison Beryl Henning Laura Farmer Amy Bosher Amy Dean Heather Fudala Jessica Norman Rachel Cloutier Total number of members: 225 (33 inactive- all within 4 months of expiration) There are several ways to renew your local Greater Richmond Area Chapter membership. You can renew through the GRAC website ( and submit a PayPal payment. You also can mail your application and payment to the GRAC mailbox at GRAC, P.O. Box 133, Midlothian, VA One can renew your local GRAC membership for $15 (your national AACN membership must be current to hold a GRAC membership or renew both national and local GRAC for a combined rate of $80). In order to get the combined rate one would need to submit your membership renewal through GRAC (website or mail). There are several ways to check when your membership expires. Go to website aacn.org, My Account, Chapter Membership Status to check expiration date. GRAC will also send you an the month that your membership expires to remind you to renew. If you do not renew your membership within three months from when it expired, your information will be removed from the GRAC mailing list. If at any time you leave the Richmond area or no longer wish to continue your membership to GRAC, the membership chair at gracaacn@gmail.com to have your information removed. 2

3 Chippenham Kraus Auditorium 3 rd Tuesday of the month Program Dates* September 20 October TBA November 15 January 17 February 21 March 14 Odyssey April 18 May NTI: Houston, TX June 1 Extravaganza Each monthly event included a business meeting, presentation, and dinner for attendees. The Programs schedule should be ready the end of July. *Subject to change based on speaker availability 3

4 Odyssey 2016! GRAC co-sponsored the Odyssey conference with Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems. Almost 200 critical care and progressive care nurses attended the conference. The 20 vendors provided attendees with wonderful information about area healthcare systems and products to care for our patients. We received great feedback on the speakers, food, and overall organization of the program. A special thanks to Sue Miner, Conference chair, and all the conference committee workers. We also thank Walter Lewanowicz and Paul Swadley from VCU, who handled all the logistics of registration, contact hours, posters, and negotiations with the Marriott. Their help is essential to the success of the conference. Karen McQuillan, RN, MS, CNS-BC, CCRN, CNRN, FAAN, current national AACN president, gave two presentations--one on Courageous Care and another on Multisystem Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury. The breakout sessions allowed attendees to choose topics in their area of interest or specialty. Those who stayed to the very end heard a very special presentation from Jamie Temple and Karen McQuillan, current national AACN president (L) and Clareen her mother, Emmy Nichols, who shared their real life (and near death ) experience last fall as Jamie became suddenly very ill. It will be a riveting story of survival from the perspective of 2 nurses (mother and daughter). It was a great day overall. Ruth Bielke will assume the chair role for the 2017 Odyssey conference and has already secured our national AACN president-elect, Clareen Wiencek, RN, PhD, ACNP, ACHPN. Mark your calendars for the second Tuesday of March 2017 for the next Odyssey. If you have topics or speakers you would like to see next year, send this information to Ruth at Ruth.Bielke@hcahealthcare.com. Maria Asi-Bautista, MD (L) and Lori Stump (R) 4

5 Odyssey 2016, continued Carol Thornton spoke on Can t We All Just Get Along? Managing the generations Cassie Lewis presented Shades of Gray: Chest x-ray interpretation Congratulations to Kelly Carter (VCU), who will serve on the national AACN Nominating Committee for the year! Thanks for representing GRAC at national! Congratulations to the following nurses who attained their CCRN. These nurses attended the GRAC review course in March 2016 along with many others. Jessica Roberts (left); Haley Myer (center); and Halley Nitz (right). All three work in Chippenham Hospital s CCU. 5

6 NTI Scholarship Opportunity by Sue Miner For NTI 2016, AACN made the decision to offer 30 fully paid scholarships to NTI. There were 15 awarded to first timers who had never attended NTI and 15 to nurses who had been at least once before. Over 580 applications were received and I was the happy recipient of one of the veteran scholarships. The process to apply included an application with questions about how you would use the information learned at NTI to benefit your organization. Applications were due by late February and winners were notified by mid-march. The award included conference registration, airfare, hotel, and a stipend to cover food and ground transportation. The expectation post NTI is to report back to AACN about how the learning was shared at my hospital or my local chapter. This was my 25th time attending NTI so I was the most veteran of the scholarship recipients. I get asked the question often about why I keep going and what could I possibly learn after all these years. I figured that anyone asking the question has not been to NTI or has only been once or twice. I see NTI as an opportunity to validate my practice as well as acquire new knowledge. I consider myself a lifelong learner. It is true that many of the sessions I attended did not present new information. However, when I hear Best Practices and Evidence presented, it gives validation that my nursing practice and my organization are both on the right track. I enjoy viewing the posters from numerous health care systems to see what innovative strategies they have used to tackle the issues of CAUTI prevention, sleep disturbances, healthy work environments, and the like. In nursing, it is not always necessary to reinvent the wheel, but to adopt strategies that have proved beneficial by other pioneers. NTI is also a great opportunity to reconnect with so many great nurses that I have met from all over the country who like me have been to NTI multiple times. Just in case you are wondering where I have been for 25 NTI trips, here is the breakdown of cities I have visited for NTI since I first went in These cities include: Atlanta (3 times), Dallas, New Orleans (5 times), Boston (2 times), Anaheim (3 times), Orlando (4 times), Los Angeles, San Antonio, Chicago (2 times), Washington, D.C., Denver, and San Diego. The first time I attended a New Orleans NTI was I had the privilege of going with Laura Savage, a fellow GRAC member who was looking for a buddy to share a hotel room. We became fast friends and NTI buddies ever since. We have had at least 17 NTI adventures together. If you have never had the opportunity to attend NTI, I highly recommend putting it on your bucket list and finding someone to go with you. Like all great opportunities, it is always more fun with a friend. Next year NTI will be in Houston May AACN has not decided yet if they will offer this scholarship program next year, but all 30 recipients this year gave our vote of approval! 6

7 GRAC Extravaganza Congratulations to the following Courageous Care winners! Edith Wilson (Bon Secours MRMC) Shanna Dennis (Bon Secours St. Mary s) Andi Mellott (Bon Secours St Mary s) Devon Broaddus (Bon Secours MRMC) Jennifer Hawkins (Bon Secours St Mary s) Emily Love (VCUHS) We would also like to congratulate all the wonderful people nominated for a Courageous Care award! Shanna Dennis (St. Mary s Hospital) was awarded the Denise Thornby Leadership Scholarship. Shanna plans to start graduate school this fall at the University of Virginia. Kelly Carter (VCU Health System) chaired our awards committee. A special THANKS to Universal Hospital Services (UHS) for sponsoring our dinner and the wonderful talk on Early Mobility. We would also like to thank the Extravaganza Committee for a fun evening: Debbie DeGraba; Tracy McInnes; and Jennifer Powers. 7

8 Looking forward to the next year Congratulations to the GRAC Board! Position President Tonka Williams President-elect Shelly Orr Past- President Beth Torres Secretary Cherie Lenzi Treasurer Shanna Dennis Membership-Past Jennifer Powers Membership Tracy McInnes Programs Hind Jaber-Daou Programs Shannon Carpenter Merit Points Kelly Carter Odyssey Ruth Bielke Facebook Michelle Legg Extravaganza Deborah DeGraba Community Kristen Gill Certification Review Rebecca Grinsell Certification Review Shannon Brackett Newsletter Renee Crawford Member-at-large (past-president) Sue Miner AACN President-Elect Announces Theme for Upcoming Year by Shelly Orr The American Association of Critical Care Nurse s (AACN s) National Teaching Institute (NTI) and Critical Care Exposition was a huge hit again this year with more than 8,000 acute and critical care nurses attending the event in New Orleans, Louisiana. On Wednesday, May 18th, our national president-elect, Dr. Clareen Wiencek, revealed the theme for the upcoming year. She spoke of how your care, your touch, and your voice matter, leading up to the reveal of It Matters for the upcoming AACN theme. Nurses attending NTI were ecstatic about the new theme, recognizing that everything we do each and every day as nurses does truly matter! What many do not know is that Clareen is a member of our very own Greater Richmond Area Chapter (GRAC). She is currently an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Virginia s School of Nursing and serves as the coordinator of their Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program. Prior to UVA, Clareen was the nurse manager for the acute-care based palliative care unit at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. Clareen has been involved with AACN for many years, maintaining national and local connections to AACN while she has moved around the country. She has held numerous national positions through AACN and was the recipient of the AACN Circle of Excellence Award in

9 Vol4 Issue 3 July 2016 One of AACN President Clareen Wiencek s favorite quotes is attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. She says the quote is at the root of AACN s theme for , It Matters. We know it matters that we care courageously for the sickest and most vulnerable patients and do it in chaotic and ever-changing health systems, Wiencek says. It matters that we are members or leaders of interdisciplinary teams who are always at the bedside watching, preventing errors and averting disasters. Wiencek believes it matters that nurses are the architect of the memory for families of patients who experience the crisis of acute or critical illness, and that the end-of-life care they are sometimes called to provide is indispensable. We know it matters, she says, when we hold the hand of a dying patient and wipe the tears of the patient s wife or father or daughter or sometimes our own. She adds that it also matters that members of the AACN community are bold and relentless in driving change. We are nurses, Wiencek says, and it matters! Source: NTI Conference 2016, excerpts from Clareen Wiencek, May

10 OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES Remote Area Medical-RAM works in many locations and dates. If interested, this is a great opportunity to help people get medical care. Dates and locations are listed below. Columbia, TN-July 16-17, 2016 Wise, VA-July 22-24, 2016 Mission, TX-July 25-29, 2016 Pharr, TX-July 25-29, 2016 Lafayette, TN-August 27-28, 2016 Byrdstown, TN-September 17-18, 2016 Grundy, VA-October 1-2, 2016 Be safe and have a great summer! Thank you for all you do in your community and at work! I am looking forward to working with each and every one of you! Respectfully submitted, Jacqueline Renee Crawford, MSN PCCN GRN GRAC Newsletter 10