November 2011 FNPN Newsletter Bullets
Posted over 12 years ago by Regina Pommer
Good Morning!
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
- Highlights from Nurse Practitioner Week
- Education Updates
- Membership Update
- FNPN Spotlight
- From Your AANP Representative
- Job Announcement
- FNPN PAC Update
- Around the State and Around the Nation
- News You Can Use
Quote of the Month:
"Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind."
- Theodore Roosevelt
Highlights from Nurse Practitioner Week
Nurse Practitioners representing AANP took part in the audience at the Today Show on Tuesday, November 15, to celebrate National Nurse Practitioner Week. Three New York NPs held signs promoting NP Week and facts about nurse practitioners. They even spoke with Today Show co-anchor, Ann Curry!
For the full story, Click Here
Letter to the Editor Fort Myers News Press
Nurses are Crucial
The week of November 13-19 marked the celebration of National Nurse Practitioner Week. It provided us with an opportunity to celebrate the significant impact nurse practitioners play in the health care arena.
Nurse practitioners are licensed expert clinicians with advanced training who provide primary, acute and specialty healthcare services. We work as partners with our patients to help them make educated health care decisions and healthy lifestyle choices.
Recently, the Institute of Medicine along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation issued a report that strongly recommended that advanced practice nurses be allowed to practice to the full scope of their abilities and to eliminate the unnecessary barriers that pose an obstacle to patient care especially in light of the healthcare provider shortage.
We need to remind our lawmakers of the importance of allowing nurse practitioners to practice to the full extent of their education and experience. Nurse Practitioners play a large part of the solution to the health care crisis.
Wishing all Nurse Practitioners locally a happy Nurse Practitioner Week!
Arlene Wright, Jeanne Abdou, Southern Gulf Coast Nurse Practitioner Council, Fort Myers
Coalition for Advanced Practice Nursing NPs on TV today for NP Week
Stan Whitaker and Mai Kong, Nurse Practitioners were guests on “Facing Florida” Sunday, November 13, 2011 with anchor Mike Vasilinda. They received a full 6 minutes of interview time. 7/10 media markets covered with this interview. Nice way to start NP Week! Kudos to Stan and Mai for representing our profession so well! To view this interview, please Click Here
Letter: Salute our nurses
Denise McNulty, Naples
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Of the 3 million nurses in our nation, over 2,000 registered nurses are in Collier County. The nursing profession is the largest segment of the nation's health-care work force.
The Institute of Medicine released a report in October 2010 titled "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health." In this report, one of the key messages is that "nurses should be full partners with physicians and other health professionals, in redesigning health care in the United States."
Advanced practice nurses (for example, nurse practitioners) will play a crucial role in health-care reform.
Some 148,000 nurse practitioners practice in the United States today. The week of Nov. 13-19 is the 2011 National Nurse Practitioner Week and a time to celebrate this distinguished group of health-care providers.
To all nurse practitioners who live or work in Collier County, in appreciation and recognition for the great work that you do each and every day, I am proud to be your colleague.
To all the wonderful patients who are cared for by a nurse practitioner, thank you for choosing a nurse practitioner for your health-care needs.
To all the physicians who work with nurse practitioners, thank you for recognizing our value, knowledge and experience.
© 2011 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online
Education Updates:
Please check for important educational opportunities posted on our website at www.fnpn.org.
FNPN Spotlight
The Southern Gulf Coast Nurse Practitioner Council representing Nurse Practitioners in Lee County recently made a cash donation to the Harry Chapin Food Bank from proceeds obtained from a recent educational conference. Each year the conference holds a silent auction to raise money for local charities as well as asking attendees to bring canned goods. This year in addition to the cash donation, over 130 lbs of canned foods was donated. The group’s mission is to actively participate in community affairs. Congratulations to a job well done!
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!
Membership Update
Armando Riera-Membership Chair
Dear Members,
In order for us to have our voices heard in Tallahassee, we will need to increase our membership, at the same time working hard to retain current members. One of our goals this year will be to actively work on recruiting new members to FNPN to make our organization stronger.
Renewal Reminder-Membership in FNPN runs on an annual basis Jan-Dec. Please renew your membership today. Membership in FNPN can be as a group or individual member.
Individual members belong and receive many benefits as part of their membership-frequent communication during the legislative session (or special sessions), a paid lobbyist based in Tallahassee, access to posted job opportunities, access to posted upcoming conferences and many more benefits. If you belong to your local NP group you are not an FNPN member until you join FNPN individually, group and individual membership are two separate levels of membership. I encourage you to visit our newly redesigned web page today www.fnpn.org and while you're there you can renew online.
Group Presidents- please renew today and continue to be an integral part of our growing organization. We value our group members as this creates a vital network of NP groups throughout the state. These groups help disseminate information about trends, issues and changes impacting NP's at the state and national level. As a group member we will also assist with conference planning and obtaining approval for CEU's if offered. We will also assist with promoting your conferences and activities and can provide assistance or link you with support in web design.
FNPN now has several options for membership:
- $70.00 - New Member /Renewing
- $120.00 - 2 Year Membership Special (Through December 2013)
- $45.00 - Student / Retired Member
- $80.00 - 2 year Membership Student/Retired (Through December 2013)
- $120.00 - NP Group Member
- $120.00 - Organization Member
- Student Group Membership "First Year Free!"
To pay by check click here
To pay by credit card click here
As the Chair of the Membership Committee I am always open to suggestions and new ideas. If you have any questions, please contact me. This year, when joining/renewing, we also ask you to consider ‘bringing a friend’ to the registration table and helping build our organizations to where they should be. With the numbers of Advanced Practice Nurses nearing 15,000 in Florida, we should have a strength that can overcome any push from our medical community. We hope you will let us nurture that side of you if you need it and engage those around you to do the same. Please be sure to contact us should you have questions about legislation, membership, education and more. Our Executive Assistant, Regina, is always available either by phone, computer and even skype!
Thank you in advance for all your support.
Respectfully,
Armando Riera, MSN, ARNP-BC
FNPN, Membership Committee Chair
ARiera@jhsmiami.org
From your AANP Representative
Doreen Cassarino MSN, ARNP, FNP-BC, BC-ADM
Many thanks to AANP members and NPs across the country who celebrated National NP Week November 13 –19 and made it a great success. AANP’s online toolkit helped nurse practitioners plan activities raising awareness among lawmakers and the public about the role of NPs and the benefits of choosing an NP as a healthcare provider.
FNPN PAC Update
The purpose of the FNPN-Political Action Committee (PAC) is to promote the ARNP profession through advancing the outcome of political issues or legislation. This is accomplished by contributing to the support of worthy candidates for State or Local offices who we believe have demonstrated their support of the principles to which this professional organization is dedicated. To further their purpose the PAC is empowered to solicit and accept these voluntary personal contributions (up to $500 per year per person). These contributions are used to attempt to influence the selection, nomination, or election of any individual to any State or Local office. Your decision to make a PAC contribution will help to continue our efforts wherever possible. Contributions can be made @ www.FNPN.org via Pay Pal…or your check payable to FNPN-PAC. Let’s make things happen together! Thank you for your support!!
Around the State and Around the Nation
On October 1, 2011 Dr. Loretta Ford was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame. Attached is a story that CNN did on Loretta Ford. Click Here
Florida Coalition for Advanced Practice Nursing important news from around the state
- A press conference took place in Tallahassee this morning at Elizabeth Markovich's practice, Integrative Health Care, highlighting NP Week. This segment can be viewed by Clicking Here. Look on the right hand side below the Pin Point Weather and the screen boxes. The third box has a list of headlines. Click on the “Nurse Week” and you can see it.
- Also, PAs in Michigan received controlled substance privileges. According to Susan Lynch’s message, this leaves Florida remaining the only state without PA privileges for controlled substance prescribing. You can read the full article, Click Here
- Finally, Joe Negron, Senate Health and Human Services appropriations chairman, is looking to eliminate Medipass. It is feared that this will hurt NP run clinics significantly as it remains one of the few options patients have for identifying an NP as their PCP.
Mark Your Calendar for FNA Lobby Days
FNA Lobby Days is early this year due to Legislative Re-districting. Lobby Days will be held January 17 and 18 in Tallahassee. We will be at the same hotel as the past two years but we are planning some interactive learning sessions to better prepare you to interact with legislators and with the media. Alisa Snow, our lobbyist is a former report and the owner of a PR firm and she will share some insights and help participants develop new skills to help push nursing's agenda forward. We invite returning participants as well as some who have never participated in this enlightening experience. Walk the historical walls of the Capital and the State Buildings and meet with your legislators to make your voice heard. If we don't speak for nursing, no one will! Make plans today. The online registration will be available soon, but the form can be downloaded from the resources page of the FNA Website. Hotel Reservations can be made at 800- 228-9290 and ask for the FNA rate.
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.
FLORIDA CHAIN- Community Health Action Information Network
Thank you to those who've shared your health care stories! Keep talking about what's at stake if we don't do everything we can to reap the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.
Last week, the United States Supreme Court announced it will hear arguments in the challenge to the national health law, a challenge led by Florida's Attorney General. Our state leaders have spent the 18 months since the law was passed blocking implementation instead of taking action to ensure Floridians have access to the new health care options and protections made possible by the Affordable Care Act.
We understand what's at stake: Florida CHAIN asked you to tell us your health care stories about why better health care matters to you. And you've responded. We've heard from individuals, families, college students, small businesses, doctors, etc., sharing experiences about the health care system, both when it works and when it doesn't.
You've shared deeply personal stories about dealing with everyday health care worries: from the heart-wrenching saga of a parents' fight with a Medicaid HMO for their child's medications...to the gratifying account of a parent's worry alleviated when they knew their college graduate could stay on their health insurance. Some stories leave us angry. Others leave us grateful for the progress we've made.
While there is still so much to be done, we are documenting the problems in the state's Medicaid Reform pilot through your stories and working to strengthen this safety net for our most vulnerable. We are celebrating the Affordable Care Act and the changes it's already made possible for the health and peace of mind of so many; again through your stories. Thank you to those who've shared their story so others know what's at stake.
Please take a moment this week to read a few of these stories and to remind yourself why we must continue to fight for better health care and the Affordable Care Act in Florida. As you gather with family and friends this Thanksgiving, speak up about the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. And if you haven't already, please tell us your story.
Participants Wanted for Survey on Vitamin D!
Your participation is requested for a study surveying advanced practice nurses’ vitamin D screening and supplementation practices. Inclusion criteria: Currently practicing adult, family, geriatric, school/college health, and women’s health certified nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives who see adults over the age of 18 in their practice. This survey is part of a DNP capstone project, required for graduation from the BSN to DNP program at the University of Florida, College of Nursing. It has been approved by IRB02 at UF, protocol # 2011-U-0878. To participate in this short survey, please Click Here
For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact: Allison Bruner, RN, BSN, BSN-DNP, Family Nurse Practitioner student, acb@ufl.edu, 352-262-7580