FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/March 11, 1996 CONTACT: Joan Meehan [202/651-7020]; Ramon Lavandero [714/362-2050 ext. 506] Nursing Leaders Design Action AgendaNational Summit Crafts Strategies to Address Challenges and OpportunitiesWASHINGTON, DC -- Faced with unprecedented challenges and opportunities stemming from the rapid transformation of the health care system, a diverse group of nationally recognized nurse clinicians, educators, and administrators held a summit in Chicago, January 28-29, to design a unified, strategic action agenda to carry the nursing profession into the next century. During the summit, participants shaped a vision for the future, developed an action agenda, and issued a call for support and collaboration to organized nursing to bring the agenda to fruition. The nineteen participants donated their time and travel expenses to attend the invitational summit, which was co-hosted by the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). Participants were brought together by a "common conviction that nurses and their patients need thoughtful leadership and a firm commitment to forge and maintain unity during this era of rapid, unprecedented change in the health care system," said ANA President Virginia Trotter Betts, JD, MSN, RN. At the same time, in confronting these challenges, participants believe that nurses face unparalleled opportunities for advancing the profession's ability to meet the health care needs of the American people. The strategic agenda proposed by summit participants is based on a vision of creating healthy communities, which requires nurses' optimal contribution, delivered competently and collaboratively. The agenda calls for developing realistic and sustainable short- and long-term initiatives that have an immediate profession-wide impact. Participants agreed that it is beyond the capacity of any single professional organization's influence and resources to address these complex issues. "Participants charged ANA and AACN to rally all nursing organizations to make the strategic agenda a collaborative focus for the entire profession," said AACN President Melissa Fitzpatrick, RN, MSN, vice president, Adult Critical Care and Cardiac Services, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (Lebanon, NH). Participants identified three priorities for careful, unified focus by the profession: Professional Identity, Education and Corporatization. Professional IdentityParticipants agreed on the need to identify and showcase the unique and indispensable contributions of nurses to achieving the best patient care outcomes and to encourage all nurses to deepen their commitment and identification with their profession. Strategies will focus on recognizing and rewarding nurses' unique, "value added" contributions to innovations and best clinical practices that focus on diverse patient populations. EducationParticipants agreed that nursing must take steps to ensure that new graduates are prepared to practice in a rapidly changing health care environment and that experienced nurses maintain and update their knowledge, skills, and professional abilities. Strategies will focus on national collaborative initiatives to help nurses meet the challenges of a changing health care system, changing patient needs, and taking advantage of new career opportunities, including those in home- and community-focused care. Other strategies will include action-oriented programs to develop current and future leaders for the profession and innovative ways to enhance involvement of nursing students in activities of the profession as a whole. CorporatizationSummit participants affirmed that the profession must actively address how today's health care system, increasingly driven by corporate, bottom-line interest, impacts patient care. Strategies will include: action networks in selected states to mobilize nursing leaders to respond to imminent issues; giving visibility to provider groups whose systems enhance patient and family care; and launching a regional and state educational initiative for health care purchasers and payers. ANA and AACN are developing implementation plans for initiatives that will address each proposed strategy. These plans will be communicated to nursing organizations and other interested audiences in April. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses is the world's largest specialty nursing organization with more than 76,000 members. Founded in 1969, the Association now has more that 270 chapters worldwide and is dedicated to the vision of a health care system driven by the needs of patients and families, where critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is accessible via the World Wide Web at http://www.aacn.org Participants: ANA-AACN Invitational SummitJanuary 29-30, 1996Virginia Trotter Betts, JD, MSN, RN
Marilyn Chow, DNSc, RN, FAAN
Joanne Disch, RN, PhD, FAAN
Claire Fagin, PhD, RN, FAAN
Melissa A. Fitzpatrick, RN, MSN
William L. Holzemer, PhD, RN, FAAN
Lucille Joel, EdD, RN, FAAN
Karlene Kerfoot, RN, PhD, FAAN, CNAA
Gerri Lamb, PhD, RN, FAAN
Ruth Watson Lubic, EdD, RN, CNM, FAAN
Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN
Geri Marullo, MSN, RN
Angela McBride, PhD, RN, FAAN
Robert Piemonte, EdD, RN, FAAN
Judith Shindul-Rothschild, PhD, RN
Sarah J. Sanford, RN, MA, CNAA, FAAN
Margretta Madden Styles, EdD, RN, FAAN
Kathleen Vollman, RN, MSN, CCRN, CS
Mary Walker, RN, PhD, FAAN
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