We hope that staff development educators are making plans to attend the NNSDO convention, July 10-13, 2008, at the Hilton Minneapolis in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The planning committee has worked hard to develop a program that will appeal to and be useful for staff development educators in a variety of settings and at various levels of experience. With the numerous and rapid changes occurring in health care, the convention is a great resource for ideas on how to meet changing regulatory requirements.
If you have never been to an NNSDO convention before, make 2008's convention your first. Even if you have attended one in the past, the 2008 convention promises to be even better as the planning committee has carefully reviewed past evaluation comments to ensure that participants' feedback is addressed.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ATTENDING?
The annual NNSDO convention will include
* top-level national speakers. As always, the opening, keynote, and closing sessions feature proven professionals who will inform and inspire.
* an information-packed program book for reference during the convention, which is a great resource for the workplace!
* endless opportunities for networking. Meet influential staff development leaders.
* opportunities to develop new friendships with other staff development professionals.
* participation in the annual business meeting. Make a difference in the future of the organization!
* peer-reviewed concurrent session presentations by top professionals in the field.
* new and innovative ideas for application in a variety of staff development settings.
WHO WILL BENEFIT BY ATTENDING?
You will benefit from attending if you are a
* staff development specialist or director of nursing education/staff development.
* patient educator in any setting including acute care, long-term care, and home care.
* human resources manager with continuing education responsibilities.
* staff nurse with responsibility for staff development, education of unit personnel, or both.
* consultant in the field of staff development, patient education, or both.
* nursing faculty member with education and research responsibilities in the areas of patient education and staff development.
* novice or beginner in the field of staff development.
* provider of products and services for continuing education and staff development.
* graduate or undergraduate student in nursing or education with a specialization in nursing education, staff development, or patient education.
THE CITY
Theater, dining, shopping, outdoor recreation, museums-there is never a shortage of things to do in Minneapolis. A Midwestern city already known for its gorgeous city layout and its fine arts community, Minneapolis is experiencing a cutting-edge design boom. The blockbuster new Guthrie Theater (now located in the Mill District along the Mississippi River) is a sight to behold-a sleek dark blue steel building designed by architect Jean Nouvel. The Walker Art Center has been expanded, and also in the works is an addition to the Frank Gehry-designed Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota. No visit to Minneapolis is complete without a visit to the Mall of America-the nation's largest mall. You can easily spend several days enjoying the rich variety of stores, restaurants, and attractions at Mall of America. The Mall is located in Bloomington approximately 15 minutes from Minneapolis. Light Rail Transit service now provides convenient and inexpensive train service between Mall of America and downtown Minneapolis.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
This year's invited speakers are Susan Vass, Sandy Summers, and Joanne Disch.
OPENING SESSION: SUSAN VASS, BA
Susan Vass, BA, called "a young Erma Bombeck" and "a female Jay Leno," is a woman who knows how to laugh at life. Ms. Vass has help audiences laugh their way to good health. In addition to her countless radio and television appearances, she is the author of a best-selling humor book, "Laughing Your Way to Good Health."
KEYNOTE SESSION: SANDY SUMMERS, MPH, MSN, RN
Sandy Summers has served as the executive director of The Center for Nursing Advocacy since 2001, the year it was founded by her and fellow graduate students at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore, Maryland. The Center is an international nonprofit organization that seeks to increase public understanding of the central frontline role nurses play in modern health care. The focus of the Center is to promote more accurate, balanced, and frequent media portrayals of nurses and increase the media's use of nursing as expert sources. Ms. Summers is a member of the international nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau and the public health honor society Delta Omega.
CLOSING SESSION: JOANNE DISCH, PHD, RN, FAAN
Joanne Disch is interim dean and professor of the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. In addition, she is the first to be appointed to the Katherine R. and C. Walton Lillehei Chair in Nursing Leadership and continues as director of the Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership. Dr. Disch is a nationally and internationally recognized nursing leader. She had been the president of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, chairperson of ANA's Committee on Nursing Practice Standards and Guidelines, and chairperson of the Nursing Executive Council of the University Healthcare Consortium. She has published widely on issues related to critical care, nursing practice standards, managed care, and leadership.
CONCURRENT SESSIONS
The NNSDO convention's concurrent sessions are broken down into the following tracks:
* advanced
* leadership
* general staff development
* recruitment/retention
* technology
* research
Presenters for the convention's forty-two 90-minute concurrent sessions are selected from 150 submitted proposals with the planning committee's most highly rated topics chosen. The planning committee works to ensure that the program has something for everybody by considering sessions for varying levels of experience, relevance of topic to current challenges in staff development/patient education, and feasibility of application to a variety of settings.
WORKSHOPS
The NNSDO convention program also has sixteen 4-hour workshops on topics from the above tracks. These longer sessions allow for more in-depth coverage of the topic as well as small group activities designed to help participants consider practical applications. Workshops are scheduled for Wednesday, July 9, and Thursday, July 10. There is an additional fee to attend each workshop.
POSTERS
In addition to the podium presentations, there are 50 posters presented annually at each NNSDO convention. Poster presenters staff their posters during established times to allow for one-on-one communication between poster presenters and participants. Contact hours for poster presentations' review are available.
NURSING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CERTIFICATION EXAMINATION
NNSDO has made arrangements with the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to offer the Nursing Professional Development Certification Examination following the convention. The examination will be held on Sunday, July 13, 2008, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. NNSDO members pay a discounted fee of $310.00 (non-NNSDO rate is $380). Seating is limited to 100.
To take the examination, you must register directly with ANCC no later than May 1, 2008. You can view the requirements and application at http://www.nursecredentialing.org/cert/PDFs/NursingProfDev_App.pdf or go to the ANCC Web site at http://www.nursecredentialing.org or you can call ANCC at (800) 284-2378.
Mail your application and accompanying materials early to ensure that your information is in order and that you are approved to take the examination in Minneapolis!
EXHIBITS
One group of professionals to cultivate relationships with is exhibitors. Representatives from a variety of companies will be on hand to answer your questions and demonstrate their products. You will learn about the latest products and services for staff development, and your practice will benefit from having a productive relationship with industry representatives who can keep you informed of the latest developments in technology, pharmaceuticals, software, publications, and other products and services for staff development professionals.
HOTEL INFORMATION
The 2008 convention will be held at the Hilton Minneapolis, located at 1001 Marquette Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Hilton Minneapolis is holding rooms for NNSDO at a rate of $150.00 for single and $160.00 for double occupancy until June 9, 2008, or until the room block is filled.
Located in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, the exquisite Hilton Minneapolis hotel is perfect for guests traveling to Minneapolis on business or for pleasure. An elegant Victorian brick building rising 25 stories above one of America's top cities, the hotel offers a range of in-house amenities and is ideally situated to access the city's top attractions.
The spacious newly renovated hotel guest rooms and suites feature all the conveniences of a first-rate hotel. Guests will enjoy the signature Serenity Beds, accented by warm-shaded designs and beautifully hand-carved oak. In addition, all of the rooms and suites are fitted with large windows, affording expansive views of the city on a fresh Minnesota day. All rooms also have two telephones with two telephone lines, modem hookup, wireless high-speed Internet access, and voice mail.
Make your reservations today to avoid the possibility of a filled room block! Call Hilton Minneapolis Reservations at (888) 933-5363 or (612) 376-1000 or online at http://www.minneapolis.hilton.com. Be sure to tell the reservations personnel that you are with the NNSDO convention to receive this special rate. Rooms at this special rate are available until June 9, 2008, or until the room block is filled. Once this date is passed or the room block filled, the special NNSDO rates cannot be guaranteed.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For a complete copy of the NNSDO 2008 convention registration brochure, contact the NNSDO National Office at (800) 489-1995 or (850) 474-0995 or visit the NNSDO Web site at http://www.nnsdo.org.
NNSDO WEB SITE REVISIONS
If you are a frequent visitor to the NNSDO Web site, you have likely noticed that the Web site changed significantly over the course of 2007. The NNSDO Board voted to upgrade the Web site to provide the functionality and infrastructure necessary for important Web-based features desired by members. In this article, I will briefly highlight some of those features and share information about what NNSDO members can look forward to on the Web site in 2008 and beyond.
The validation one gets from communicating with colleagues across the country about common challenges, successes, and "tricks of the trade" is one of the most significant benefits of belonging to a professional society like NNSDO. That is why it was essential to upgrade the Web site's capacity for communication and facilitated networking. Using the new Web site, members will be able to communicate with one another through threaded discussions, blogs, wikis, moderated forums, instant messaging (late 2008), and more. At any time, a member will be able to see which colleagues are logged on to the Web site. If they choose, members will be able to customize their profiles to share relevant information about their areas of expertise, research interests, and job responsibilities with other members. Members will also have access to an online directory of other members so that they will be able to find and network with members with similar interests.
Another important NNSDO member benefit now expanded by Web site development is access to information and opportunities for professional development. The updated NNSDO Web site has the capacity to provide fully interactive online continuing education modules. Members will have the ability to review a continuing education module, complete the evaluation process, and receive their certification of completion all online. The Board has identified the development of CE modules as a priority activity for 2008, and the informatics committee and the products and services committee will be working with staff to accomplish this goal. In addition, the Web site is now set up to serve as an online repository of reports, templates, documents, and other publications related to the business of NNSDO (e.g., award, grant, and scholarship applications and nominations forms) and the practice of staff development (e.g., benchmarking data, convention handouts, and best practices).
NNSDO's developing use of the Web site for association business ensures that the organization remains fiscally and environmentally responsible. Through increased online dissemination of member materials, publications, and messages, NNSDO enjoys significant savings on printing, faxing, mailing, and shipping costs. In turn, these cost reductions benefit members because increases of dues are minimized and investments in new member benefits are maximized. In addition to the financial benefit to NNSDO and its members, electronic communication helps to reduce the amount of discarded paper, thus having a positive impact on the environment as well. Two features in particular will result in costs savings and environmental impact: online abstract submission and online convention handouts.
* Beginning in 2008, members will have the opportunity to submit abstract proposals for the convention using a quick and easy online process. Not only will this process be easier for the member submitting the proposals, but the planning committee will be able to review and rate proposals online, thus eliminating the costly and time-consuming process of sending out copies of the proposals to the 8- to 10-person committee. NNSDO often receives 200+ abstracts, so this truly is a reduction in costs and paper.
* Also beginning in 2008, convention attendees will be able to download convention handouts 30 days before and after the convention from a secure site on the Web site. Because NNSDO has about 1,000 convention attendees, this is an environmentally and financially responsible alternative to the previous convention program book format.
Finally, the new Web site provides numerous conveniences to members. Financial transactions made on the NNSDO Web site are completely secure, so members can enjoy the expediency of online transactions to manage their membership or to order publications and products. Members have the ability to update their mailing address and other contact information themselves without having to call/write the National Office, and members can access the organization's newsletter, bylaws, policies, and other documents in one place.
Even though the Web site currently features the numerous exciting new functions mentioned above, there is still more to come in the next few years including online elections, virtual conventions and trade shows, and expanded opportunities for member involvement in Web site development, to name just a few. Stay tuned to the NNSDO newsletter, these society pages, and, of course, the Web site to learn more about NNSDO's technological bright future.