Hello everyone!

 

I thought I would provide some sort of “first quarter” update regarding AALNC’s board/management company activities since the forum in April. It’s a bit lengthy so bear with me. The good news is that we have a lot going on!

 

Monthly member update: We initiated a new segment in our monthly update to members entitled “Your questions, answered.” Each month we select a topic from questions posed by our members from various sources (surveys, educational evaluations, etc.)

 

New member email: All new members (and any member renewing for 2014) will received a lengthy introductory welcome email with links to various pages on our website that may be of interest. Please look for this when you renew later this year and let us have your feedback!

 

Legal Corner: We have initiated a new section on our website where members can find legal cases of interest to LNCs.

 

Chapters: We have been working hard to support local chapters. Since April, we have had two national DAL calls for chapter leaders led by our DALs: Debbie Pritts, Mary Sussex and Varsha Desai. In addition, we invested in a chapter membership online tool which gives Chapter leaders access to current information about new AALNC members in their state. We are planning a webinar for chapters regarding how to use webinar technology to close the geographical gap with their members/prospective members. Finally, we sent a recent survey to chapters to inquire about their interest in a two tiered national membership dues structure.

 

Webinars: We have maintained a busy webinar schedule, including the LNCC review course, our series of free informational webinars for nurses just starting out in the LNC field, and our regular monthly webinars. The topics chosen for our regular webinar series are based upon feedback from our members as to which topics are of interest to them. Anyone who purchases a webinar but is unable to attend, automatically receives a link to view the recorded webinar after the fact. And, we have extended the time frame for learners to access recorded webinars for CE credit from 1.5 weeks to 3 weeks.

 

LNCC Review Course: The first webinar from this series is now online and available for purchase. The remaining webinars in the series will be put online in the coming weeks.

 

Revised LNC Online Course: The first seven modules are beginning the peer review process and should be ready for purchase in mid 2014. We will shortly begin work on the 2^nd year online course modules.

 

2014 Forum: The schedule for next year’s Forum in Denver is almost complete and looks terrific. We are also in the process of selecting a Forum site for 2015.

 

Exhibiting: I exhibited for AALNC at the Critical Care Nursing Conference in Boston in May and Kathy Ferrell will be exhibiting for AALNC at the ENA conference in Nashville, TN.

 

Outreach to the legal community: We are advertising the revamped LNC Locator to various attorney groups, who appear to be increasingly using this resource to locate nurse expert witnesses and behind the scenes consultants. We are also making inroads into select legal associations to raise awareness of legal nurse consulting: Sharon McQuown has been appointed for a second term as Vice Chair of the ABA’s Nursing and Allied Healthcare Professionals Task Force. Julie Dickinson is serving on two DRI Committees: The ALF/SNF Steering Committee and the Medical Liability & Health Care Law Seminar Steering Committee.

 

Budget Development: Our Finance Committee has begun the multiple meeting process of putting together a proposed budget for 2014, which will be finalized at our in-person board meeting in Chicago at the end of this month. Consistent with good practice, our goal is to maintain an amount of no less than 50% of our operating budget in reserves while also reinvesting in initiatives (such as the revamped online course) that will grow the association.

 

Committees: Last, but not least, I would like to thank Pat Davis (our Director of Programs) and all the volunteers serving on our very productive AALNC committees, including the Forum, Research, Webinar, Products & Services, Core Competencies, Journal Editorial Board, and ALNCCB.

 

I feel very good about the direction and accomplishments of AALNC, none of which would be possible without the many LNCs who volunteer their precious time for the good of our specialty practice.

 

Beth