March 8, 2017 | Summit 2017 Our Community of Colleagues

It’s Summit time, colleagues. Early-bird registration is now open through May 31 for the 2017 NLN Summit: “Our Community of Colleagues.” We believe it represents the NLN inclusive vision of a nursing profession, working with other providers and groups, that embraces the connectedness of education and practice. The NLN Summit is like nothing else for nurse educators. If you have not been to one in the past – perhaps you are new to our profession – I recommend that you view the brief video we made last year to show you what the Summit experience is all about. If, fortunately, you have been to a previous Summit, I know you will want to return with colleagues. We offer special rates for schools that send several of their faculty – and each year, many schools do.

Before I go into detail about the program, let me give you one bit of essential information. Summit 2017 begins on Thursday, September 14 (not Wednesday as in previous years). Keep that in mind as you make your plans. Another important bit of information is that it is happening in beautiful San Diego, California, where, according to a respected source – Google – nearly every day in September warms to over 70° F. Now I know that sounds appealing.

Of course, the primary reason to attend our Summits is to learn something new and grab hold of a solution, to bring back to your colleagues, classroom, and lab new, evidence-based strategies for teaching and learning. Our keynote speaker, David B. Daniel, PhD, professor of psychology at James Madison University, will speak on “Teaching IS Science: Translating the Science of Learning for Nurse Educators.” Dr. Daniel was recently appointed to a select panel of the National Academy of Sciences to update and extend the influential National Resource Council report, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. He will help us understand the critical role of the educator as a skilled, active, and essential professional in the application of scientific findings in the learning context. In alignment with one of the NLN’s strategic goals – advance the science of nursing education – he is the perfect speaker to open our Summit, setting the stage for an extraordinary array of concurrent sessions.

We had a tremendous response to our Call for Abstracts this year and are very excited about the choices we are offering, as well as the poster presentations. To help you select the program that’s perfect for you – as a seasoned educator or novice – sessions are labeled as follows: Interprofessional Education (IPE) and Practice (IPP), Leadership and Systems Change, Teaching Excellence Across the Curriculum, and Technology (Including Simulation).

And speaking of simulation, a highlight of every NLN Summit is the Debra L. Spunt Lecture, supported by Laerdal Medical in memory of the late Dr. Spunt, who headed the simulation labs at the University of Maryland and took part in the early research on simulation conducted by the NLN. This year we are honored to have as speaker the internationally recognized nurse educator Kathie Lasater, EdD, RN, FAAN, ANEF, a professor at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing and a simulation research pioneer. Dr. Lasater’s Clinical Judgment Rubric is used globally, with translations in 12 languages, as a valid and reliable tool for evaluating the clinical judgment skills of novice and experienced nurses. In her presentation, “Come Together … Right Now,” she will explore how we can all be involved in the transition to practice through creative simulation learning, team practice, and reflective debriefing.

Lest I am giving the impression that the Summit is all work and no play, please let me immediately offer a correction. We have built into the Summit program lots of time for networking, viewing exhibits, and interacting with exhibitors, as well as celebrating our honorees from the NLN Centers of Excellence and the Academy of Nursing Education – there will be more about our honorees in an upcoming Member Update. And did I mention that the Summit is in San Diego? I’m pretty sure I did, but it can’t be said too often. This will be a terrific Summit, and we hope you will join us there.

Colleagues, there is a rumor that we are now moving into spring as March roars in like a lion. However there is no evidence to the rumor at this point. Our DC weather trajectory never settled on winter, with high, summer-like, record-breaking days in February, The weather has been as unpredictable and tumultuous as our nation’s politics. However, the NLN remains steadfast and committed to the underlying principles of the Affordable Care Act and it is our hope that congressional efforts will be toward refining, revising, and strengthening an initiative to ensure health care for as many Americans as possible.

Finally, before I close, today is International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, with a call to action for accelerating gender parity. The theme this year, #BeBoldForChange, provides a fitting way to tell you about the loss of one of our boldest warriors for change – Dr. Faye Glenn Abdellah.

Early in my career I was an ANA Minority Fellow intern who had the privilege of working with Dr. Abdellah, founding dean of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing and retired rear admiral of the US Public Health Service, who died on February 24 at the age of 97. What a life she had! Dr. Abdellah was the first nurse and first woman to serve as deputy surgeon general (with Dr. C. Everett Koop) and the first nurse to hold the rank of two-star rear admiral. I remember using her textbooks as a student. Read more about her life – her story is an inspiration and a reminder that leadership and nursing and women have no limits.

Next Issue of the NLN Member Update: Wednesday, March 22, 2017. View previous issues of NLN Member Update »