National League for Nursing Revises Mission Statement to Reflect Ongoing Focus on Nation's Health

Agility, Responsiveness, and Sensitivity Mark Mission Modification and New Living Documents Series

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, NY — February 28, 2011 — The NLN Board of Governors approved a change in the 118-year-old organizations mission statement so as to explicitly state what has been implicit, that the health of the nation is the impetus for all the League does, announced NLN president Cathleen Shultz, PhD, RN, CNE, FAAN. "The publication of the Institute of Medicine report has inspired us to rethink some of the ways we communicate our core philosophy at the NLN," explained Dr. Shultz. "Our mission is now, The National League for Nursing promotes excellence in nursing education to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the nations health."

Continued NLN CEO Dr. Beverly Malone, "We added five little words, to advance the nations health. As educators, researchers, administrators, leaders, and nurses first, we are committed to improving the nations health. These powerful words resonate with the core of who we are and what we do."

The League also announced a new way of sharing its thinking and deliberations with members, the greater health care community, and the public. NLN Living Documents will serve as an umbrella encompassing the existing Reflection & Dialogue (R&D) series as well as a new NLN Vision Series. While the R&D format considers issues of importance from the broadest viewpoint, inviting the views of others and creating an exchange of ideas, the NLN Vision Series will serve as a roadmap for the future of nursing, reflecting the NLN's role as the leader in nursing education.

"Our goal is to be proactive, deliberate, and flexible," said Dr. Shultz. "The position statements we traditionally issued were excellent, but perhaps indicated that our views were fixed, unmovable until a new position statement was published. We must be more nimble. NLN Living Documents convey our readiness to move quickly and responsively to the needs of our members and the nation we serve."

Please note: The first living document in our new NLN Vision Series, to be released in March, tackles the topic of academic/professional progression and builds on the Reflection & Dialogue on this same topic.

Reporters/Editors: For interview opportunities, please contact Karen R. Klestzick, NLN chief communications officer, at 212-812-0376 or kklestzick@nln.org.

Dedicated to excellence in nursing education, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education offering faculty development, networking opportunities, testing and assessment, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its 34,000 individual and 1,200 institutional members.