May 2012 Updates

April and May have been busy for your Board. Our Willingness to Serve form streamlined our volunteer assignments-thanks to those who filled them out. Committees are meeting or are about to meet. Forum 2013 Committee is already reviewing feedback and planning. Thanks to Jeannie Autry for serving as Chair. Educational products and Webinar committees are going to be very busy this year with new offerings..... to be announced. We are still waiting to hear on our research proposal submitted a few months ago-it is a long process. We have already been discussing the 2013 budget and how we can inform and educate more people about legal nurse consulting. We have several exhibiting opportunities for AALNC forthcoming including: NNBA, AACN and AAJ just in the next few months. Our new Business development manager Kristen has been working hard with our executive director Kevin for several opportunities in local areas and nationwide. More information as the details are developed. Thank you to my Board for allowing me some time off for vacation and continuing on our strategic plans in my absence. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks Sharon

Sold Out Forum-Our Second Year!!

Thank you to all that attended the Forum in San Antonio. It was very well attended with excellent speakers present. We opened the President's reception to all attendees and will continue this as a new tradition. This allows an opportunity for networking prior to the Forum's formal opening. It also allows access to all of our Board of Directors for conversation and interaction for members interested in volunteering. First hand info is the best mechanism to investigate where your talents are best suited. We have Beth Zorn in our President-Elect position and look forward to an exciting year ahead with her orientation to the job. On behalf of Karen Huff, our current Past President and myself, we thank you for the positive comments we received on site regarding our offer to remain on the Board for an additional year.  We appreciate the positive feedback about explaining our team approach with Smith Bucklin-which I elaborated on during my State of the Union speech. All LNCC's and Past National Presidents were recognized at our opening meeting. The guidance provided by our past presidents has led us to the path we are currently on. The Forum Committee did an outstanding job: Debbie Pritts, Jeannie Autry, Beth Diehl Svrjcek and Mary Kay DeGeorge with BOD liaison Barb Boschert. We appreciate your efforts. We have many exciting partnerships and liaisons in the works with more info to follow as we progress along. Forum 2013 will be in Chicago with info posted to our website as it is available. We will continue to work hard for you our members and the 2013 Forum efforts are already underway. Thank you for the opportunity to serve a second year as your President. As always I will do my best as we honor the stewardship bestowed on us.
More to come!

UPDATES March 2012

I wanted to follow up on some previously posted information. We are still waiting to hear about our research proposal to the RWJF. I will keep you posted. The attendance numbers for the Forum have exceeded our goals-which is excellent news. There is still time to join us in San Antonio-as Board members we would enjoy meeting you and obtaining your feedback! The Willingness to Serve application has provided a great source of volunteers. We hope to assign volunteers who have submitted applications, by the time of the Forum. So please let us know what area you are interested in, to serve your organization. Chapter Leader Webinar is right around the corner with Julie Dickinson guiding the way. Anyone who is a Chapter leader needs to take advantage of this opportunity. We will have some exciting news at our business meeting on site at the Forum and I do hope you can attend. Let me know if you have questions. Hope to see you soon  Sharon

Education and Volunteering

This month is the big push before our annual Forum being held in San Antonio, Texas. I do hope you are able to come and see the educational and networking offerings this year. We have had a tremendous reponse and I look forward to meeting with you at the end of this month!  An email blast has been sent to the membership with a "Willingness to Serve" form. There are many dynamic individuals in our midst that have so much to offer to all of our membership. Please consider helping YOUR organization. This is an excellent opportunity to broaden your network of legal nurse consultants. We are very excited to offer our first webinar (this month) providing an orientation to our Chapter Leaders. Our National Board member Julie Dickinson, will be leading this informative session. We recognize that with the right tools leaders can excel and we hope this offering is one you find beneficial. I leave you today with one of my favorite quotes from Sir Winston Churchill " We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give".  Sharon

Membership Voting has Begun

As you opened your ballot you can see the Board of Directors is keeping current with trending in regards to board size. You will also notice one of our most valued board members, Beth Diehl-Svrjcek resigned. It is a loss for AALNC but, at the same time we are excited with Beth's new position. She was selected to become the lead Nurse Practitioner at Johns Hopkins. Since Beth recently completed her DNP in this area, this was a goal she reached-sooner than we expected! It was a very difficult decision for her to make and we wish her all the best as she reaches continued levels of success. All of our best to you Beth.

Starting the Year Off Right!

As I told you a few weeks ago our Research Committee submitted a proposal The Relationships Among Documented Care Errors, Never Events, and Malpractice Claims and Type of State APRN Practice Environments to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of The Future of Nursing:Campaign for Action program. The research committee has been informed this proposal is a first round finalist! We are now being reviewed By the Funders' Community to await determination if we are selected to proceed forward with a full proposal. Again thanks to the entire committee and we will await hopefully continued exciting developments. Sharon

New Happenings

Hopefully you have all seen the Salary Survey results published on our website. This is information hot off the presses. We had a 24% response rate-which is excellent. The Board knew we needed updated data and this should be a member benefit! Your Board is meeting to determine this year's activity going forward. We will need volunteers in several areas including Education, the Journal and others. If you are interested in actively working on the National level in a committee format please email me at smcquown@flbranson.com. The Forum being held in San Antonio this year has already had an almost 40% registration rate so, do not forget to register and join us in March 2012. I hope all of you can attend for the networking, education and State of the Association address. On the Research front we have applied for a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. More to come on this exciting opportunity and a thanks to our entire research committee, chaired by Kathleen Ashton. We are also finalizing the results from our Education survey to share with you as well. In short a busy month of activities to further YOUR organization. Thanks for the opportunity to serve you, the members. Sharon