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FNPN Newsletter - October 2018

Posted over 5 years ago by Regina Pommer

Good Day!

We would like to bring you up to date on what’s new in your own backyard of Florida.  In this newsletter you will find the following:

Contents

  • Presidents Message
  • FNPN Membership Update
  • 2018 Conference Update
  • Around the State
  • BON Update
  • From AANP
  • Job Announcement
  • News You Can Use
  • Register for “Safe and Effective Prescribing of Controlled Substances" course

        

Quote of the Month 

“Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.”

― Walter Anderson

 

Presidents Message

Dr. Arlene Wright, President 

Happy Fall! Even though here in Florida we do not necessarily feel the climate effects of autumn we are aware that the change of seasons equates to increased population! Get ready for season 2019! 

 Here at FNPN we have had some changes and growth that we are excited about. We are pleased to welcome Dr. Jean Aertker as our first executive director. Dr. Aertker will be instrumental in providing outreach to our group members along with our region directors as well as helping to grow both our individual and group memberships and advance FNPN into the future! 

We are also pleased to welcome new board members Dr Tom Schlepko as our new secretary along with Dr Kathleen Wilson and Dr Susan Smith as Region directors.

We also kicked off our new Group Leadership Think Tank wherein together with our local grassroots group, we will work towards tackling our common goals to continue to provide quality and accessible care to our population here in Florida.

Our 2018 educational conference was a huge success! We want to give thanks to all the attendees, exhibitors, sponsors, our FNPN superstar Regina Pommer as well as Emily Bell VP of education and her team. We are already in the planning states for 2019. Mark your calendars and SAVE THE DATE August 15-17, 2019 at the Orlando World Marriott. Diana Jordan who is a renowned national speaker, comedian, author and nursing humorist will be sharing her healing power of laughter as our keynote speaker.  The committee is hard at work with more surprises! Stay tuned for more details! 

Kudos to our PAC team lead by Dr Laureen Fleck for their successful and fun filled PAC event that included our special guest of honor, Dr Loretta Ford.

This year we were able to award scholarships to two deserving DNP students. We congratulate Crystal Che Williams who received the Jean Aertker Health Policy scholarship and LTC Joshua Anderson as the recipient of the DNP/PhD scholarship! We wish them the best in their future endeavors. 

 We also presented Dr Susan Smith with the first FNPN NP of the year award! 

It is always a privilege and an honor to recognize our own great Florida NP’s who are truly making a difference.

Legislatively we will continue our partnership with the NCSBN for which our 1st VP of legislation, Dr. Doreen Cassarino will be keeping her finger on the pulse of all the happenings and providing us with timely updates.

We are looking forward to an exciting 2019!

Congratulations Susan Smith Ph.D., ACNP-C, FNP-C, WCC, FNFA, FAANP

Winner of the FNPN Award of Excellence

Dr. Smith is an FNPN member who demonstrates exemplary efforts to improve nurse practitioner visibility and is active in advocating for nurse practitioner practice, providing active leadership to her colleagues and students, alike and is actively involved in health policy and community outreach.

Dr. Smith is a doctoral-prepared NP leader who is respected by her colleagues and loved by her patients. She has been practicing as a nurse practitioner for over 20 years. Dr. Smith is currently a senior nurse practitioner in the burn surgery service at Orlando Health. She is board-certified as a family nurse practitioner and an acute nurse practitioner and holds sub-specialty certifications in surgical first- assisting and wound care.

Dr. Smith is the past president of the Central Florida Advanced Nursing Practice Council (CFANPC) and continues to serve by chairing the hospitality committee. Dr. Smith works tirelessly to advance the mission of the CFANPC which is to promote the value of APRNs and the high-quality healthcare they provide to the patients they serve, and to optimize patient care and access, through education and advocacy. As a leader in this group, she has been active in local efforts to promote visibility of nurse practitioners by planning or participating in community events like local 5k runs, the Move60 Healthy Central Florida campaign, and the AIDS Walk. Dr. Smith is also active in the community with the Stop the Bleed campaign. She is promoting nurse practitioner visibility while providing education to the public on methods of stopping bleeding in individuals who have suffered trauma.

Dr. Smith provides active leadership by contributing to advancing education and precepting students. She presents locally, nationally, and internationally at conferences, sharing her expertise related to burn care. She has published articles in journals including Journal for Nurse Practitioners, Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology, and Journal of Trauma Nursing. Dr. Smith graciously assists other nurse practitioners with the preparation of articles for publication and posters for presentation. Dr. Smith precepts nurse practitioner students and educates surgical residents at Orlando Health, during their burn rotations. She is also recognized as a valuable resource by her nursing colleagues.

Dr. Smith is actively involved in health policy. She visits her local legislators to advocate for her patients and the nurse practitioner profession. She has been active in social media campaigns attempting to influence legislation related to nurse practitioners and the patients they serve. Dr. Smith also campaigns for legislation through the American Burn Association.

FNPN Membership

Dr. Cindy Parsons, FNPN Membership Chair

As we near the end of the first quarter of 2018 FNPN would like to thank our loyal members, it is only through you that we can accomplish the many gains NPs in Florida have made over the last 15 years.

For those of you who have not joined I hope you will please consider, FNPN's Board of Directors continues to work very hard to improve the practice environment for all Advanced Practice Nurses. This requires a significant amount of time each month, which the Board gladly donates. However, to make the changes needed to improve practice and access to care for our patients, it takes money to pay professional lobbyists. 

Benefits of Membership

By joining FNPN, you become a part of a network of thousands of nurse practitioners who have made a personal commitment to their high level of professional standards, to their careers and to their profession. We are very proud to support nurse practitioners and nurse practitioner students by providing them with valuable services, resources, educational and networking opportunities they need to be successful.

Professional Advocacy

Professional Advocacy is the cornerstone of FNPN since its inception in 2002. Over the years FNPN has worked diligently to improve patients access to care and remove barriers to NP practice. Through our national affiliations we help resolve federal barriers to practice. Your membership will help you to protect your practice and your profession.

Education and Networking

Local Membership There are four regions and  over twenty seven local groups to serve our members.  They are staffed by nurse practitioner members who volunteer their time to provide leadership, education, meetings, teaching events and more. Your colleagues are often your best source of insight and a range of expertise. FNPN can assist you in finding your local group and the opportunity to connect with nurse practitioners and other professionals across town and around the state.

Education FNPN offers conferences, events and meetings at state, local and regional levels. Our annual conference is attended by hundreds of NPs and our members receive preferred pricing.

Networking Opportunities connect with NPs and other professionals at our state and regional conferences, local chapter meetings and events, or visit us on Facebook and Twitter. Networking brings about many possibilities! 

Resources

 24 Hour Access to Information, Resources, News and Updates - When you need information or have questions after business hours, our website is still working for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can find forms, instructions, state and national links, rules and regulations, news and updates on our website. 

Practice Resources are available to our members who need information or that have questions: scope of practice, management advice, risk management, required practice agreements, licensing, certification, professional conduct, Medicare, Medicaid and more. There is a vast amount of information available at your fingertips, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on our website, or you can call or e-mail us for further assistance. FNPN promotes ethical and professional practice for all NPs.

NSO Professional Liability Insurance FNPN endorses Nurses Service Organization (NSO) for professional liability insurance. They are the nation's largest provider of nurses professional liability insurance. NSO has an advisory board of nursing professionals to advise them on current nursing practice and to provide input about insurance needs and new product development. NSO is a proud supporter of FNPN.  

ENP Network is an effective resource for the nurse practitioner. Whether you are searching for a job, searching for a preceptor, posting a job opening or seeking to network with other NPs, you will be reaching the right people. Members receive a discount on job postings. 

Member Discounts

Student Membership Discount-To support NP students we offer a substantial discount on their annual membership dues. American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) The FNPN is a member of AANP and our members receive $10 off AANP annual NP membership dues. 

Congratulations to FNPN Sholarship Winners

FNPN Would like to congratulate the inners of the 2018 Scholarship Awards.

Crystal Ché Williams (Harris) RN, BSN-Jean Aertker Health Policy Scholarship LTC Joshua Anderson MSN, RN, CCRN—PhD/DNP Student Scholarship

Around the State

Be sure to click here for the FNPN calendar of upcoming events

Region 3:

Calling all APRN’s in St Luce, Martin, Hernando, Hardee, and Pasco counties are you interested in getting a group together?   If so then FNPN is here to help. Contact Laura Williams at CAWO1142@Gmail.com. 

Current groups: Resources that are available to you from FNPN:

1.Are you in need of meeting ideas or sponsors? 

  1. Growing your groups board or recruiting people to fill your board positions. 
  2. Ideas for community outreach to enhance APRN’s viability 
  3. Creating speaker panel available for media outlets to contact for experts opinions. 
  4. Group promotional merchandise resources
  5. Political involvement how FNPN can help your group get involved.
  6. Leadership resources. 

From the Board of Nursing

Advanced Practice Licensure Change

Effective October 1, 2018: Chapter 2018-106, Laws of Florida, changes Advanced Practice licensure by:

  • Transitioning ARNP (Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner) certification to APRN (Advanced Practice Registered Nurse) license;
  • Converting CNS (Clinical Nurse Specialist) license to APRN license (under protocol agreement with supervising physician & eligible for DEA registration); and
  • Valid licenses issued before the Department completes the technical transition on October 22, 2018, will convert automatically to new APRN license.

Current ARNPs and CNSs will continue to practice under existing licensure authority until receipt of the new APRN license in October. The APRN license will be tied to the same renewal deadline as the current certificate. However, at the next renewal, the APRN will have the option of renewing the APRN license and the RN license as two, separate licenses.

For more information click here

From AANP

Nominate a deserving NP or NP advocate today!

Nominations are open for the prestigious 2019 AANP State Award for Excellence. Please read the following information carefully. To be considered for the 2019 awards, nominations must be submitted electronically to AANP on the official 2019 State Award Nomination Form no later than October 10, 2018, at 5 p.m. CT. Thank you in advance for taking the time to nominate deserving NPs and advocates.

The NP State Award for Excellence is given annually to an individual NP in each state who has demonstrated excellence in NP clinical practice.

The Advocate State Award for Excellence is given annually to an individual in each state who has made a significant contribution toward increasing awareness and recognition of NPs. Examples of past recipients of this award are physicians, legislators, educators, etc. NPs are also eligible for the advocate award for non-clinical practice initiatives related to leadership, precepting, policy, politics, research, education or community affairs.

Nominators must be current individual AANP members to nominate a candidate for a state award; however, the nominee does not have to be an AANP member.

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact Beverly McLemore at (512) 505-0233 or email stateawards@aanp.org. 

For more information click here

Job Announcements!

There have been many new job postings around the state on our web site at www.fnpn.org  for those of you that may have an interest. On our new website, the most recent postings are on the front page.  A new feature will allow postings to be visible for 90 days.  Please feel free to pass this along to your colleagues who may be interested in it as well, or who may have an interest in finding out more about our network.  For those of you that have found jobs on our website, please be sure to let us know!

Do you know an employer who might find the FNPN Job posting a worthwhile site? If so, please be sure to tell them about the website and the fact that on average 20 or more jobs are posted each month.  The traffic to our website is incredible and we have more and more folks seeking employment through this site than ever before.  Let them know you saw it on the FNPN Website!

News You Can Use

The Florida NP Network has taken the next step to keep our members informed. Keep abreast of changes in your practice around the state and around the nation. You can join us today on Facebook under Florida Nurse Practitioner and Twitter under FloridaNP.  We hope to hear from you.

Case Study with Risk Management Strategies Presented by NSO and CNA: Failure to identify and address concerns or questions regarding patient care; failure to complete documentation in a timely manner; failure to act as the patient’s advocate; failure to maintain clinical competencies; failure to follow the standard of care.  For more information click here.                                                                                                                 

CE Broker

Did you know that full members can get a discount to CE Broker?

Click here to find out more

Register for the "Safe and Effective Prescribing of Controlled Substances" course

Below are the instructions on how to register for the online "Safe and Effective Prescribing of Controlled Substances" course offered by FNPN and FHA. 

Make sure that you create a user ID and password to enter into the "Student ID" area.

You must download the content in order to get to the exam. Once you download the content the exam should appear. 

Please contact CareLearning in the instructions for any questions or technical issues.

Thank you for your continued support of FNPN. We are proud to offer this course for a nominal fee ($5.00) as our way of supporting our members. 

First-time Registration – FHA/FNPN Members:

  1. Go to http://www.carelearning.com/login/fhanp_fl 2. Click “New Student Enrollment”, enter the required information and click “Submit”. Create a user ID and password to input into the "student ID" area.
  2. From the Student Main Menu click “Course Catalog (Register for a Course)”
  3. Click the course title “Safe, Effective Prescribing of Controlled Substances”
  4. Click the “Register” button and enter your credit card information
  5. Click “Back to Student Main Menu” to access the course

First-time Registration – Non-FHA/FNPN Members:

  1. Go to http://www.carelearning.com and click “Course Catalog”
  2. If you are asked to enter the state in which you are employed, select “Florida”.
  3. Click the category “Safe, Effective Prescribing of Controlled Substances”
  4. Click the course title “Safe, Effective Prescribing of Controlled Substances”
  5. Click the “Register” button
  6. Click “New Student Enrollment”, enter the required information and click “Submit” (Organization: “Florida Hospital Association”. No enrollment key is necessary.)
  7. Enter the additional optional information and click Submit.
  8. Enter your credit card information
  9. Click “Back to Student Main Menu” to access the course

To Return to the Student Main Menu (Classroom):

  1. Go to http://www.carelearning.com
  2. Click Student Login
  3. Enter your Student ID and Password and click “Enter”
  4. You must download the content in order to get to the test questions.

Need Help? Contact careLearning at 866-617-3904 or support@carelearning.com.