Michelle A. Beauchesne, DNSc, RN, CPNP President (617) 373-3621 (phone) (617) 373-3050 (fax) e-mail: mbeauche@lynx.neu.edu Holiday greetings to everyone!!! It's that time of year when everyone is caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season and we educators are still trying to correct papers and give grades! I hope you are all coping and getting ready to enjoy a brief, but well deserved winter break! As usual, our organization as been very busy. We should all be proud of ourselves and of all that we have accomplished in 2000. We have been well represented on many national committees and what's more important is that we have been asked! It has taken a few years, but we are now being recognized more as a separate, autonomous association. Although we greatly value our close relationship with other groups, especially NAPNAP and the NCBPNP/N, for many years others thought we were one and the same. This presented a picture of confusion and often resulted in our being left out of important issues because individuals thought we were included in invitations to those two groups. I would like to particularly extend thanks to the presidents and executive directors of NAPNAP and NCBPNP/N for all their assistance and support this past year in helping us realize our potential as an important and independent organization. In that spirit, I am pleased to report we have been working closely with both groups. Susan van Cleve and Beth Richardson continue as our representatives to NCBPNP/N and have attached a report of their activities this past year. Jan Wyatt, Executive Director, has been a driving force in getting the AFPNP at the table of many important meetings. Elizabeth Hawkins-Walsh has been our representative to one such meeting, The Consortium on NP Quality Education, and submitted a thorough report with our last newsletter. All of you should have received a mailing from that group which included a white paper stating their position on NP education. Elizabeth will be attending that next meeting December 20, 2000, and will give us an update then. I have been representing AFPNP at the Alliance for Certification and Credentialling, which has been meeting twice a year. I reported on the May meeting last newsletter. We met again October 2, 2000, at the AACN offices in Washington, DC, and discussed the issues and priorities in certification and credentialling. All certification groups and credentialling groups were represented. I am confident there is a shared goal to proceed toward a more unified and consistent approach to promoting excellence and quality in NP programs and certification. Another related project is the NP competency project, which has been nationally funded. Pam Hellings has been our representative to this group and has been working extremely hard on the PNP competencies. I would like to thank all members who contributed to the November review which required quick but thorough feedback. Pam has submitted a very comprehensive report, which is attached. We continue to take the leadership in setting PNP educational standards. I have also attended the two NAPNAP Board meetings this past year. We continue to work closely with NAPNAP on issues relevant not only to education but to practice. Several of our members were on the standards committee of NAPNAP. We will be hosting our annual business meeting on that Friday in Phoenix at the annual NAPNAP conference. We are sponsoring a session on PNP nutrition Issues on that Saturday as well. We have had a column in the NAPNAP newsletter each quarter. Again, much appreciation to Barbara Kelley, immediate past president, Barbara DeLorian, current president and Julie Novack, president elect of NAPNAP, for all their support and respect for our expertise in educational issues. Bob Hall, Executive Director, Joe Casey and Dolores Jones of NAPNAP have been instrumental in keeping us in the loop! As president, I have been the liaison to NONPF. We signed the MOU in April and continue to work collaboratively on all the previously mentioned agendas. I am on the organizational structure task force, which has been looking at ways to include specialty groups in that organization in a formal way. Representatives from the acute care NPs have also been working on this issue. We hope to have a formal meeting of all PNPs who are NONPF members at their annual conference in San Antonio next April. This will afford us the opportunity to network more effectively since many of our members belong to both groups. We will also be able to meet with PNP educators who don't belong to our group. It is critical that we reach out to all PNP educators. You may have noticed our new name. Members voted to adopt the bylaw changes. Much gratitude is extended to Margaret Brady for her dedication to this issue. You should have received the bylaw changes as an attachment to the vote last fall. At the same time our members decided to change our name to better reflect the times and we are now the Association of Faculties of Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Programs (AFPNP). Chris Duderstadt, the husband of our board member Karen, and a graphic designer, has been working on a new logo. We are hoping to have our webpage up and running before Christmas! We will pilot the logo there and ask for feedback. I am at this minute working with another volunteer webmaster to set it up. (Thank goodness for volunteers!) Initially, we will put up our description, goals, board members and committee chairs. Another project for the New Year is to update our brochure. This newsletter will go up soon with all committee reports. The webage will have initially links to NAPNAP, NCBPNP/N and NONPF. We will use the WEB for better communication. Any ideas and info should be directed to me and I will forward it to our webmaster for upkeep. Bernadette Melnyk has been chairing our research committee and seeking support for this year's award. We will hopefully give one research award. Please consider submitting proposals. (See Call for Proposals.) Pat Jackson and Christine Kennedy were last year's recipients and will be presenting their findings on the roles of graduates of PNP programs at the annual meeting. Pat Jackson is also chairing our academic programs committee and is spearheading a survey of PNP content in FNP programs, which we hope to get out this January. NONPF is providing us with their recently updated list of programs and is collaborating with Pat on this project. Marty Swartz as usual has done a terrific job with membership and keeping us solvent. We have at this time 55 renewing members and 12 new members for a total of 67 paid members. It's not too late to renew your membership. Marketing and recruitment will be a priority for the New Year. Happy Holidays!

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