Nurse Practioner's Council- Rhode Island Nursing Association

NP Council News

September 2011

Dear Fellow NPs:

The new year began with our Annual meeting at the Waterman Grille on September 12 th, sponsored by Covidien, with Dr. Lawrence Kirshenbaum speaking on Pain Management.

We used this opportunity to congratulate and honor Cheryl Fitzgerald, RNP as recipient of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioner (AANP) State Award for Excellence and to Marie Ghazal, RN for the State NP Advocate Award. Cheryl has been an NP for 35 years and has given so much to the profession! Marie has been an advocate of NPs and such a needed voice in community health in Rhode Island. Nominations for this year's awardee and advocate are due by October 24 th. RI has many incredible NPs and advocates who support our role. If there is someone you would like to nominate, go to aanp.org as applications are able to be submitted online.

Members of the NP council committees were introduced with a brief statement of what they do for the Council. The rest of the time was for networking, something we often leave little time for. We need to get to know our colleagues , how we can refer to each other, how new NPs may need help in the maze of a new role, how students fit in to the bigger picture as they move forward, and how we can all make a difference for each other not only on the state level, but also at the federal level.

Our Educational Day is being finalized, with April in Newport being the goal. Mary Cabral has been diligently working on coordinating dates , school vacations, speakers, and sponsors. No easy job for one person working full time and doing this on her “off” hours, so any volunteer help would be greatly appreciated. The topics will be Wound Care or Suturing in the AM and the afternoon will be an update by a Representative of AANP.

Two issues that are currently being followed and discussed at length include the APRN Consensus Model and The IOM Report on the Future of Nursing.

The APRN Consensus Model was presented by Terry Rochon at one of our Council Meetings and was presented in the April-May issue of RI Nurse.

This is a national initiative that will affect all NPs, nurse anesthetists, and clinical nurse specialists. RISNA has formed a task force that will study this model and how it will be rolled out in RI. There will be more information on this in the coming year as this will affect us all.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and Robert Woods Johnson (RWJ) Report on the Future of Nursing is basically looking at the future of nursing. Important issues include:

Advance practice registered nurses should practice to the full extent of their education and training. Limits on scope of practice need to be removed by state, federal, health care, and insurance organizations.
Expand opportunities for improved collaborative efforts by removing inappropriate oversight by physicians.
Effective workforce planning and policy making require better data collection and information infrastructure.
Improved education system is needed which includes transition to practice and lifelong learning.

The report will have great implications for nurse practitioners and how their roles will improve access to care without increasing cost. The NP Council has formed a committee to author a white paper response to this report as each state may have different processes that need to be followed. We hope to have this white paper response available by the end of the year.

As you can see this will be a busy year and will require much communication with all professional committees, AANP and RISNA. Please consider joining our monthly meetings and taking part on one of the committees, or simply come to listen to how the future of nursing is in our hands as well. There are many changes coming and the voices of all will assure that the changes made reflect the needs of RI Nurse Practitioners