Don't Miss This!! Nevada Nurses Present A National Treasure!!!

Nevada RNformation, Aug 2006

The 75th Anniversary Celebration Committee of the Nevada Nurses Association is very pleased to announce Dr. Leah Curtin, RN, as our keynote speaker.

Leah Curtin, one of nursing's most widely read and articulate authors, is known for her clear, crisp, concise style and her ability to cut to the core of the issue. Gretta Styles, a member of the ANA Nursing Hall of Fame, described Curtin as "A National Treasure." Patricia Melady. Director of Nursing Services of the Connecticut Shoreline Visiting Nurse Associations, described Curtin as "A Speaker who Stills the Room."

Curtin authored numerous ixxiks, hundreds of articles and countless editorials. Her wide-ranging topics include health care costs, patient safety, staffing ratios, leadership, ethics and health care reform. She incorporates history and literature to make her point.

Elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 1982, Curtin is a Clinical Professor of Nursing at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing and Health. She was Editor-inChief of Nursing Management for 20 years, then left in 1998 to pioneer ideas about joining the printed word and the World Wide Web in a newsletter- which were then incorporated in both a website (CurtinCalls.com) and into the Journal of Clinical Systems Management. A newly minted 'nurse entrepreneur.' she learned from first hand experience the meaning of the word 'risk!'

In the last 6 years, Curtin helped plan and financially cosponsor 8 national conventions. She keynoted 32 other conventions, produced a PBS film on the nursing shortage that was viewed by over 20 million people, served as president of her local district nurses association, published 12 articles in Seminars in Nursing Management. 48 articles in Health Management Technology. 6 articles in Nursing Administration Quarterly, one article for OJIN, two others for The Journal of Nursing Policy and Politics, one for the Hong Kong Nursing Newspaper, and yet another for The Journal of the Japanese Nurses Association -as well as her monthly editorials and ethics columns in the Journal of Clinical Systems Management.

In addition to these activities, Curtin served as scholar-in-rcsidence at Hallarat University in Victoria, Australia, and as a visiting scholar at University of Oklahoma, Brigham Young University and the University of Eastern Kentucky. Moreover, she was invited to Copenhagen where she testified before Denmark's Ministry of Health on the impact of restructuring in LLS. hospitals. She also served as a Distinguished lecturer for the Hong Kong Hospital Authority in both 2000 and 2001, where she also consulted with the nursing administrators about the role of Chief Nurse Officers in restructured hospitals.

Curtin published Sunflowers in Uu- Sand: Children's Stories of War (Madison Books, NY 2000), written for a general audience, for which the Medical College of Ohio awarded her a second honorary doctorate in 2002. With a forward by Tony Danza, and a positive review in The New York Times Sunday Book Review, Sunflowers raised over $100,000 for the care and treatment of children damaged by war. Endorsed by persons as diverse as the Executive Director of UNICEF, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Cleveland, and Comedian Jerry Lewis, Sunflowers is also used by anti-war groups to graphically demonstrate the impact of war on civilian populations.

Lean Curtin is a graduate of the Good Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing in Cincinnati, Ohio. She earned a B.S. in Community Health Planning from the University of Cincinnati, a M.S. IN Health Planning and Administration from the University of Cincinnati and a M.A in Philosophy from Athenaeum of Ohio. Lean Curtin was awarded honorary Doctor of Science Degrees from State University of New York and the Medical College of Ohio. She makes her home in Cincinnati, Ohio.

As our 75th Anniversary Convention Keynote Leah will present: Safe Staffing Saves Lives... and $$ too!

Hospitals and health care systems throughout the United States have been hit by the most sweeping reductions in reimbursement in recent times-and that's going some! Leading institutions-the best of the best-are fix-using on excellent clinical care coupled with good management and this is what it takes to succeed in hard times. The chaotic changes of the 90s-downsizing, integrating laterally (horizontally and even virtually), merging, competing, diversifying, conglomerating-not only failed to save money, it also led to a shocking increase in medical errors. However, it also provided fertile ground for researchers who tracked, analysed and reported on the impact of these changes on patients, staff and institution. So. today we have the datademonstrated in study after study after study, safe staffing saves lives-and money, too! What's safe? How do we know this? This presentation will summarize the data-and the learned-from the toughest decade yet for U.S. hospitals.