President's Message - Spring |
(May 2001) |
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Michelle A. Beauchesne, DNSc, RN, CPNP President (617) 373-3621 (phone) (617) 373-3050 (fax) e-mail: mbeauche@lynx.neu.edu Greetings Members! As we approach the end of the academic year, most of us are caught up in the swirl of seasonal events such as graduations, faculty retreats, grades and final exams/papers! It's difficult to imagine now that summer and rest and relaxation are in the future for many of us. The AFPNP has been busy since our very successful annual meeting held in March to coincide with the NAPNAP Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The board would like to thank all of our dedicated members who chose to attend our Friday afternoon business meeting instead of exploring the deserts and canyons of the Wild West! We had a very good turn out and a great deal of important topics were covered. As usual there was not enough time for as much discussion as we would like. I'd like to encourage members to contact any of the board members with any issues that you believe need further investigation or clarification. All of our contact information is on our WEB page www.afpnp.org Minutes of the annual business meeting will be forthcoming. I have included in this newsletter the outline of our Goals for 2000-2001 and the progress we made toward accomplishing them. Thanks to an active and determined membership we have come a long way in the past year! AFPNP 2000-2001 Goals
Continue to increase visibility
Alliance for Certification Consortium on NP Quality education STTI Initiative
Revise and update our competencies
Implement the new infrastructure:
FNP survey PNP survey
$1000 award 2001
Updates given in timely fashion
Increase and Diversify Membership
International member(s) Continue collaboration with NP organizations
NCBPNP/N representation and interaction NONPF MUO
DATA Sharing ACNP International Conference NPs Increase communication and dissemination of information
Membership directory All newsletters and reports Discussions and elections Calls for information Job offerings
Links to related groups News items Job offerings
At the NAPNAP Awards Breakfast, Arlene Sperhac of Chicago received our second annual research grant for her study, "Using Multiple Data Sources for Curriculum Revision." Bernadette Melnyk, chair of the Research Committee successfully obtained support from Aventis Pasteur for this award. Next year we hope to give a third grant to help foster research in the area of PNP curriculum as well as bestow our second Excellence in Research Award. You may obtain the applications for either on our web site or from Bernadette.
At the annual meeting the membership voted to renew the Memorandum of Understanding, MUO, with NONPF, which has proved to be very successful this past year. We have enjoyed a productive, collaborative relationship with that organization. We also voted to contribute $500 to the NP Marketing Campaign, which is establishing NP database as well as media and legislative databases to foster the positive image of NPs. If you wish to contribute further please send your monetary contribution or any ideas to
NP Marketing Campaign
A major topic at our annual meeting was the content in PNP and FNP curricula. Patricia Ludder Jackson, chair of our Academic Programs Committee, has taken the leadership in implementing two major surveys on PNP education. The first project studies PNP graduates' roles in practice three years post graduation. The results of this project will be appearing soon in the Journal of Pediatric Health Care. The second survey examines the PNP content in FNP programs. NONPF provided the list of programs for us to survey. The preliminary results of both surveys indicate that we, as leaders in PNP education, need to reevaluate both the content and designs of our current curricula to meet the divers challenges of practice today. During the coming year we as an organization will need to make some recommendations for educational standards based on these results.
There have been several key projects that we continue to be involved in regarding standards and curriculum guidelines. As we reported previously, Pam Hellings has been representing us on the Core Competencies Project. Her reports on this effort may be found on our WEB Page. This is now in the second stage focusing on validation of the draft. Several of our members are serving on the expert panel to review content proposed.
Elizabeth Hawkins-Walsh continues as our representative to the Coalition on Quality NP Education, which is a joint effort to further the goal of achieving high standards and accountability in NP programs. Her reports may also be found on our web site. In conjunction with this project, Elizabeth and I have represented the AFPNP on the Alliance for Certification and Accreditation, which met May 7, 2001 in DC. This is an important alliance, which focuses on achieving consistency of excellence in all advanced practice programs and certification processes. The AACN and CCNE have been members along with representation from NONPF and the AFPNP as well as the women's health groups, neonatal nurse practitioners, the CNMWs and CRNAs. All certification boards are active participants as well. This past meeting focused on standards, policies for distance education in educational programs, consistency in reporting certification results to programs and utilization of appropriate standards in all accreditation processes. The AFPNP will host the next meeting to be held in October at the AACN offices in DC. I will share a summary of this meeting with you once I receive the minutes.
A major future initiative is the reconvening of the National Task Force (NTF) on Quality Nurse Practitioner Education, which last met 5 years ago. AFPNP was not initially included on this task force. We have been invited to participate this time to review the Criteria for Evaluation of Nurse Practitioner Programs. The meeting is scheduled for June 21, 2001 in DC. Details will be forthcoming. Please submit any ideas, information or concerns to me prior to that meeting. I will be representing AFPNP initially. It is essential that we contribute to this document.
This spring, we are holding elections for two new member-at-large board positions, as well as a representative to the National Certification Board of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners and Nurses (NCBPNP/N). We are very appreciative of the contributions of outgoing board members, Elizabeth Hawkins-Walsh and Karen Duderstadt and our outgoing NCBPNP/N representative, Beth Richardson. We hope that they will continue to be actively involved in the leadership of our group. We have an excellent slate of candidates to fill these positions. It is especially gratifying to have so many well-qualified individuals agree to run for these positions. It proves to be an exciting election!
In summary, The AFPNP is continuing to play a vital role in PNP education. In order to continue to make a difference we need your active participation. Anyone interested in serving on our task forces and committees please view our web site and contact the appropriate chairs. Issues for the coming year include establishing a sound financial basis for our organization, review of our NCBPNP/N representative structure, distance education, acute care PNP education and review and update of our guidelines. We will announce spring election results in the near future. If you have any information you would like posted on our web site please contact me. Have a wonderful summer! -- MAB |
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