January 9, 2018 | NLN CEO Update on A Year of Learning and Education Advances

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first Member Update of 2019 — can you imagine, it’s already 2019! — I wish you good health and good cheer, along with the satisfaction that comes from relishing your work — your teaching, your service, and your scholarship. Let the NLN accompany you on your journey as you work to accomplish your goals and to fulfill the NLN mission to promote excellence in nursing education. I encourage you to use the resources we offer, from SIRC (Simulation Innovation Resource Center) to our multifaceted ACE (Advancing Care Excellence) program, to our webinars, to our testing products, to our wonderful research journal, Nursing Education Perspectives. The new year always represents endings and beginnings.

Today, at the beginning of the year, I want to acknowledge the NLN’s Nursing Education Perspectives (NEP), specifically the amazing Emerging Technologies Center column, introduced in the 2004 Summit issue (Vol 25, No. 5) by Diane Skiba, PhD, FAAN, FACMI, ANEF, a professor at the University of Colorado Denver. In her first column, Diane introduced her goals: to “explore …emerging technologies and trends, offer insights and possible solutions, summarize important concepts for educators, and provide additional resources.” Diane emphasized her overarching purpose with these words: “We will help you tackle the increasing demands of technologies and their potential transformation of nursing education.” Diane wrote her final column for the November/December 2018 issue (Vol. 39, No. 6), “For Every Season, There Is a Purpose.”

It is impossible to overstate Diane’s contributions to nursing education and to the NLN, from an NLN Press monograph she co-authored with Dr. Judith Ronald in 1987, Guidelines for Basic Computer Education in Nursing; to her collaborative role in the HRSA-funded Health Information and Technology Scholars (HITS) program, which involved the University of Colorado, the University of Kansas, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University, and the NLN; and her energizing role in numerous NLN Technology Conferences over the years. We named Diane, who is not a nurse, an honorary fellow in the NLN Academy of Nursing Education in 2014. Thank you, Diane, for everything you have done for the NLN, NEP, and nursing over the years.

Before I introduce our new Emerging Technologies Center editor, I thought it would be timely to point out how far we have come since Diane began writing for NEP. In her third column, she introduced “People of the Year: Bloggers,” a term that was brand new to most of us. She introduced us to Millennials and how they learn (I’m sure you know quite a few of our colleagues). She told us about e-portfolios and podcasts. For most of us, her column on Tweets was the first time we had heard that now ubiquitous word. In 2015, the NLN published “A Vision for the Changing Faculty Role: Preparing Students for the Technological World of Health Care,” largely informed by Dr. Diane Skiba’s scholarship. So, colleagues, join me once again in thanking Diane for expanding our vision and helping us educate faculty about 21st century nursing education.

Now it is my pleasure to introduce Karen Frith, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CNE, the new Emerging Technologies Center editor for NEP. Karen is a professor and associate dean for undergraduate programs at the University of Alabama Huntsville College of Nursing and in 2016 was a participant in the NLN Leadership Institute LEAD program. She has published extensively on nursing informatics, educational technology, and staffing issues. She continues to publish in clinical areas including fall prevention in older adults. In her first column for NEP, now online, she discusses “User Experience Design: The Critical First Step for App Development” and takes the reader through the steps the nurse scientist must take when creating smartphone apps for educating students and health care consumers. You will find her columns fascinating and useful as you prepare your students for the technological world of health care. So welcome, Karen, and thank you for your contributions to excellence in nursing education.

This is a good time to remind you that online access to NEP is a valuable NLN member benefit. Visit the journal website to subscribe to the eTOC. By doing this you will be notified every two months that a new issue is online. And note: the deadline is coming up on February 1 for a special issue on research in global nursing education, with guest editors Dr. Angela McNelis and Dr. Tamara McKinnon. (February 15 is the date applications are due both for the NLN Academy for Nursing Education — is 2019 your year for fellowship? — and the June 8-9 Scholarly Writing Retreat.) While we’re talking reminders, let me share with you that registration is open for the March 7-8 NLN/ University of Central Florida College of Nursing Simulation Conference and for the March 18-21 Institute for Simulation Educators, to take place in Memphis. I can assure you there is a lot going on at the NLN throughout 2019!

And a final word: The Aspen Institute is accepting applications, through January 18, for the Health Innovator Fellowship. The Institute is seeking entrepreneurial, innovative, and accomplished leaders focused on health care in the United States. Put your name forward. After all, it’s 2019, and we all have much to do since this is our year. Someone once told me that those who do not toot their own horn will not be tooted. I can hear the music of confidence, excellence, purpose, passion, and power from here.

New HRSA Program Will Help Clinicians and Patients in the Fight Against Opioid Addiction, Learn More. #PrimaryCare #ChoosePrimaryCare Minnesota colleges and universities in the state are finding ways to make health care education more accessible, Read More. #NLNVoices Webinar - New Year, New Congress. This webinar outlines the League’s public policy priorities in the 116th Congress, the current political environment and the important advocacy strategies to undertake in 2019 Register Today. #PublicPolicy #NLN The NLN/University of Central Florida Simulation Conference is an interprofessional conference open to healthcare professionals and current as well as prospective students. Don't miss the Early Bird Registration, Sign-up Today.

Next Issue of the NLN Member Update: Wednesday, January 23, 2019. View previous issues of NLN Member Update »