SIG Updates

VA SIG Meeting Minutes

Date: March 24, 2006

Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.

Location: Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, 165 Courtland Street, Atlanta, CA

Members Present: Esther Brooks, MN, RN (Co-Chair Elect); Mercy Cherian, RN; Mary Anne Bord-Hoffman, MN, RN,C; Elizabeth Corley, RN, MHSM; Kimberly Corwin, MEd, RN; Lydia Carrasquillo, BSN, RN.C; Evelyn Donato; Pamela Del Monte, MS, RN,C; Carmina Fogarty, RN; Eileen Farrell, BSN, MPH; Christine Gimotea, RN, BC; Karen Griffin, MSN, RN, CNAA; Cheryl Handy, MN, RN, CNA; Crystal Hardy, BSN, RN; Awilda Meeks, BSN, RN, MPA; Janie McKenzie, MSN, RN; Barbara Soncrant, RN; LuIa Smith, BSN, RN,C, MPH; Sandra Sutton, RN; Mary Walker, BSN, RN, BC; Diane Winfrey, MSN, RN, CS; Julia Younce, MSN, RN (Chair)

Educational Speaker: Sharri Rittenhouse, MSN, NP, from the Atlanta VAMC

Presiding: Julia Younce, MSN, RN, Chair the VA SIG; Esther Brooks, MN, RN, Chair-elect (both from the James A Haley VA, Tampa, FL)

1. The VA SIG San Diego 2005 Meeting Minutes were approved as written.

2. Mary E. Walker, BSN, RN, BC, from the Atlanta VA, agreed to become the new Chair-elect.

3. Pamela Del Monte, the Assistant Director of Field Operations for the National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, conveyed greetings from, the VA Chief Nurse Cathy Rick. Pamela Del Monte also reported that for the coming year, the Employee Wellness Program and the move Program will be a priority for the current Under Secretary for Health Jonathan B Perlin.

4. Julia Younce reviewed the following VA SIG accomplishments for 2005-2006 which are as follows:

a. The VA SIG Web site was updated.

b. A summation of the 2005 VA SIG meeting minutes was published in Viewpoint (May/June 2005).

c. The VA SIG submitted an article on "Chronic Pain Management" for publication in Viewpoint.

d. Quarterly reports were submitted to the AAACN National Office throughout the year, and communication pertaining to SIG affairs was maintained.

e. Sharri Rittenhouse, MSN, NP, from the Atlanta VA, accepted the VA SIG invitation for an educational discussion on the Nurse Professional Standards Board, proficiency writing, and the proficiency writing process at the 2006 AAACN Annual Conference.

f. Created a brochure with information pertaining to the VA SIG, which was distributed at the joint SIG table during the 2006 AAACN Annual Conference.

g. Contributed crystal pieces to the Silent Auction on behalf of the Scholarship Fund.

h. The VA SIG Chair and Chair-elect attended the AAACN Leadership Conference Symposium in 2005 and 2006.

i. Contributed poster presentations for the 2005 and 2006 AAACN Annual Conferences.

After the Business meeting, Sharri Rittenhouse, MSN, NP, hosted an informative and dynamic discussion on the Nurse Professional Standards Board and the proficiency writing process.

The meeting adjourned at 5:15 p.m.

Submitted by Esther Brooks, MN, and Julia Younce, MSN.

Using Data to Set a New Course for Leadership SIG

In 2004, the Chair of the Management SIG, Janet Moye, RN, realized that we needed a new direction. The SIG was known as the "Management SIG," but Janet knew we were more than that - she knew that every ambulatory nurse was a leader, a pioneer of sorts, striving through everyday acts of excellence to foster the profession of ambulatory nursing. Janet refocused the direction of the SIG into a model of leadership. New goals and objectives were written, and the Leadership SIG was born!

I attended the Leadership SIG meeting for the first time at the 2005 AAACN conference. In the room I found over 50 colleagues with exciting ideas and passionate needs, but something was missing. Though Janet, along with Sandra Palmisano, gave it everything they had, perhaps additional manpower was needed to run a dynamic organization. One or two people cannot do it alone.

Earlier this year when Janet put out the call for a new Leadership SIG chair, I responded. I wanted and needed more from AAACN in terms of leadership support. Wagner and Hollenbeck (1998) describe charismatic leadership as "the ability of the leader to communicate new visions of an organization to followers." This type of charismatic or transformational leadership raises the awareness of the importance of group goals, often getting people to transcend their own interests for the good of the whole (Wagner & Hollenbeck, 1998).

While I knew what I needed from the organization, it was important for me to validate that others had the same needs. A new, overarching goal was drafted for the Leadership SIG that would clearly define our purpose. The goal of the Leadership SIG, "to develop and support ambulatory leaders," was accepted by unanimous vote at this year's Leadership SIG meeting. Next, I set out to query the group as to their needs for additional leadership education. Nine topics were chosen based on input from 4 nursing leaders within AAACN, and a 3-point scale ("very interested," "somewhat interested," and "not interested") was used to determine relevance.

The Nine Leadership Education Topics