AALNC Webpages

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

AALNC is exhibiting at the Critical Care Nurses conference in Denver!


Dear AALNC Members,

The NTI 2014 Critical Care Exposition is being held this week at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver and is attended by approximately 6,000 - 7,000 nurses.  AALNC Director at Large, Kim Beladi RN BSN LNCC, is exhibiting for AALNC!  This is part of our strategic plan to position AALNC as the industry leader by improving visibility to the clinical nursing community.

If you are attending the expo, please stop by AALNC's booth (#1167)!

Warmly,
Julie Dickinson
President, AALNC
860-208-6670




Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Goals and Initiatives

Dear AALNC Members,

As promised in my last blog post, I want to share with you the goals of the AALNC Board of Directors for the year ahead.  We will be working on the following in accordance with AALNC’s strategic plan:

  • Increase the number of annual Journal issues
  • Conduct a focus group to identify the educational needs of seasoned LNCs
  • Roll out the first phase of the new online course
  • Develop the second phase of the new online course
  • Exhibit at the NTI (critical care nurses) conference this month in Denver
  • Continue the free educational webinars about legal nurse consulting
  • Explore ways to partner with other nursing organizations
  • Evaluate the AALNC website to identify ways to make it more user-friendly and make the information more readily accessible
  • Exhibit at AHLA (American Health Lawyers Association) in June in New York
  • Pursue strategic placements of our LNC Locator ad
  • Present to National Association of Legal Assistants
  • Continue position on ABA’s Health Law Section’s Nurses and Allied Health Professionals Taskforce
  • Continue position on DRI’s Nursing Home / Assisted Living Facility Litigation Seminar Steering Committee
  • Continue position on DRI’s Medical Liability and Health Care Law Seminar Steering Committee
  • And much more!

To accomplish these objectives, we are fortunate to have many talented volunteers who generously give of their time and expertise.  Leading these volunteers and driving our initiatives are the chairpersons and other association leaders listed below.  I would like to thank each of these individuals for their efforts and contributions to AALNC, and I look forward to working with them during the coming year.

  • ALNCCB:  Anne Meyer
  • Director of Programs:  Pat Davis
  • Finance Committee:  Mary Sussex
  • Forum Committee:  Carol Walsh
  • JLNC Editorial Board:  Wendie Howland
  • LNC Online Course Taskforce:  Karen Huff; Sharon McQuown; Mary Sussex; Elizabeth Zorn; and myself
  • LNCC Review Course Task Force:  Karen Huff
  • Nominating Committee:  Varsha Desai
  • Products & Services Committee:  Erin Gollogly
  • Research Committee:  Dana Jolly
  • Scope & Standards of Practice Taskforce:  Elizabeth Zorn
  • Webinar Committee:  Marjorie Pugatch

Lastly, and in line with AALNC’s focus on providing quality education, I am pleased to share with you that AALNC’s Provider Accreditation by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Commission on Accreditation has been extended by an additional two years.


Warmly,
Julie Dickinson
President, AALNC
860-208-6670




Tuesday, April 8, 2014

New Beginnings!



Dear AALNC Members,

It was wonderful seeing so many of you this past weekend at AALNC’s annual Educational and Networking Forum in Denver!  As usual, this year’s conference was outstanding and energizing, and the quality of the education and networking events was exceptional.  Congratulations to the Forum Committee, led by Cyndi Maag, for a job very well done!

The Forum is a time of transition for the AALNC Board of Directors, as we thank those who are rotating off and welcome those who are coming “on board,” so to speak.  It is my privilege to introduce the 2014-2015 AALNC Board:

•          President: Julie Dickinson, MBA BSN RN LNCC
•          President Elect: Varsha Desai, BSN RN CLNC CNLCP
•          Past President:  Elizabeth Zorn, BSN RN LNCC
•          Secretary-Treasurer: Mary Sussex, MBA BSN RN-BC LNCC CNLCP
•          Director-at-Large:  Kimberly Beladi, RN, BSN, LNCC
•          Director-at-Large:  Susan Carleo, RN, CAPA, LNC
•          Director-at-Large: Debra Pritts, RN LNCC

I would like to extend my gratitude to Sharon McQuown and Kathy Ferrell, our two outgoing board members, for their service to AALNC and for their valuable contributions to our association.  AALNC is fortunate that they are both remaining involved in AALNC projects, and I appreciate their time and dedication.

I would also like to welcome Kim Beladi and Susan Carleo, our two new Directors-at-Large.  I am excited to begin working with them and know they will both be valuable additions to the Board.

Lastly, a heartfelt “Thank You!” is owed to our Past President, Elizabeth Zorn.  She has dedicated an extraordinary amount of time, not only over the past year but throughout her career, to AALNC and the specialty practice of legal nurse consulting.  As she shared in her State of the Association address in Denver and in her last blog post, AALNC had many accomplishments during the past year.   AALNC has thrived under her leadership, and I am deeply grateful for her ongoing contributions to making AALNC the premier association for legal nurse consultants!

During my closing remarks in Denver, I discussed the goals of the AALNC Board of Directors for the coming year.  I will share those in my next blog post, but I do want to impart one closing thought that I conveyed in Denver.  It’s an exciting time to get involved in AALNC!  If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me or info@aalnc.org.  We have numerous opportunities for LNCs of all experience levels and availability.  It takes a village to run AALNC, and we would not be where we are today without the collective talents of our many, many volunteers and our staff.  It is my great honor to work with these extraordinary individuals every day, and I look forward to the year ahead!

Warmly,
Julie Dickinson
President, AALNC
860-208-6670



Tuesday, March 25, 2014

List of AALNC Accomplishments 2013-14

In the final week or so of my term, I thought I would share some of AALNC's accomplishments during 2013-14 related to each of our three primary strategic objectives. I think it is an impressive list, thanks to the hard work of our Board, many volunteer leaders/members and our management company! I look forward to seeing those of you who are attending our Annual Networking & Educational Forum in Denver next week. Please stop me and say hi!












List of 2013-2014 Accomplishments


 Strategic Goal #1: AALNC will position itself as the leader in the specialty practice of legal nurse consulting by setting education standards and metrics, by being the voice of the legal nurse consulting community, by conducting research related to LNC practice and by improving visibility to the clinical nursing community.

Two-part series published in JLNC re LNC liability (Dickinson & Zorn)
  • Revised definition of legal nurse consulting to align it to our practice
  • Work on revised Standards of Practice and Core Competencies is ongoing to align with our practice
  • Updated AALNC Bylaws to reflect new membership categories:  RN and non-RN
  • BOD continued free quarterly informational webinars on legal nurse consulting
  • Submitted required documentation to maintain ANCC accreditation as a provider of CNE
  • Initiated formal evaluation of the Education Provider Unit (all our educational committees)
  • Research Committee working on a project to evaluate impact of AALNC’s educational offerings on LNC practice
Strategic Goal #2: AALNC will create awareness of legal nurse consulting within the legal community by aligning key communications, programs and features with the needs of LNC employers and by developing partnerships that are strategic and a major leverage of AALNC assets. 


  • Sharon McQuown is serving a second term as Vice Chair of the ABA’s Nursing Alliance and Allied Healthcare Professional Committee
  • Developed Memorandum of Understanding with the Health Law Section of the ABA
  •  Julie Dickinson is serving on DRI’s Nursing Home/Assisted Living Facility Litigation Seminar Steering Committee, as well as their Medical Liability & Health Care Law Seminar Steering Committee
  • Exhibited at NTI conference in Boston ~ attended by 8000 critical care nurses
  • Exhibited at ENA conference in Nashville
  • Attended NSO Advisory Board conference in Florida
  • AALNC placed banner ads re the LNC Locator on AAJ’s Trial Magazine, DRI’s e-newsletter and ABA’s Health Law Leadership Directory
  • Conducted joint webinar with AANLCP


Strategic Goal #3: AALNC will maintain a sound business model by using revenue generated from membership, educational programing, and other budget programs to develop and offer high-quality, innovative, competitively-priced educational products as well as other value-driven benefits and resources for legal nurse consultants.


  •  2013 Forum nearly sold out!
  • Two new segments added to the monthly Member Update: “Your Questions, Answered” and “LNC Spotlight”
  • Lengthy “new member” welcome email with links to AALNC website pages
  • “Legal Corner” added to our website
  • JLNC enhancements – digital format; plan to increase number of yearly issues to four by 2016
  • 3 year plan to revamp AALNC Online LNC Course – first 7 modules to be rolled out in 2nd Q 2014!
  • LNCC Review Course revamped and all webinars put online for 24/7 access
  • Extended window to access live webinar recording for CNE credit to 3 weeks
  • Offered monthly webinar series based upon needs assessment with selected webinars put online for 24/7 access (Webinar Committee)
  • Completed templates for case study authors and reviewers (Products/Services Committee)
  • Negotiated reduced rate member access to MD Consult and Clinical Keys
  • Carefully monitored revenue and expenses, ending up with a modest budget surplus!
  • Significant investment in revamping the LNC Online Course, while still maintaining an amount in reserves equal to no less than 50% of our operating budget.
     
  • Chapter support included:
     
    • Held 3 national DAL calls for chapter leaders
    • Invested in chapter membership online tool, giving Chapter leaders access to new AALNC members in their geographical area
    • Held webinars for Chapters on use of technology and chapter webinars
    • Created user-friendly form for chapters to submit their chapter events for posting on AALNC’s Community Calendar
    • Updated Chapter Leader Resource page on AALNC website