March Update: New Ambassador Resources

As an Ambassador, you are a key resource in our AACN community, and we count on your help to drive our association’s key initiatives: Our January Update asked you to help your colleagues to build strong cases for attendance at the 2013 National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition this May in Boston.

Our February Update tapped your influence as an ambassador to encourage your colleagues to execute their right — and responsibility — to vote in this year’s election of our Board of Directors and Nominating Committee.

Our community asks a lot of you, and we thank you for all you do. To make it easier for you to carry out AACN’s mission and vision in your units and facilities, we continually seek to improve and/or add new resources for our Ambassadors. Most often, these improvements come from feedback you have shared, and we count on and appreciate that input.

This month, we are excited to share two new Ambassador resources that we believe you’ll find very useful and to remind you of others that are easily accessible on the Ambassador website.
As always, we look forward to your feedback on these resources.

Melinda  

New Ambassador Resources Focus on Collaboration, Certification

Two new resources have been added to the Ambassador website to help you collaborate more effectively with Chapters in your area and to help you promote the value of certification: 

Chapter and Ambassador Collaboration Webinar

AACN Ambassadors and Chapter members share a passion for ACCN. As a community of exceptional nurses, we look for ways to collaborate and support each other in our efforts to promote AACN’s mission.

To help accelerate this teamwork, a new webinar — AACN Chapter and Ambassador Collaboration — has been developed and posted to the Ambassador website.

Facilitated by Mary Zellinger, Region 4 Chapter Advisor, the 48-minute webinar explores how Chapters and Ambassadors can collaborate to plan, promote and communicate activities effectively to best serve the nurses in their communities. The objectives of the webinar are:

• To describe the work that both Chapters and Ambassadors do to promote AACN.
• To describe opportunities to collaborate on joint projects.
• To understand how to access Ambassadors and Chapters in your area.

A webinar handout is provided in PDF form. 

You can find this page by clicking on the above link, or in the Resource Library under Webinars.

The Value of Certification” Talking Points Flyer

"The Value of Certification" a concise, two-sided flyer, provides nine key talking points to build a case for certification. The talking points focus on how certification of nurses improves patient outcomes and how it increases professional advancement and satisfaction.

The flyer, provided in PDF format, is easy to print and share with colleagues and managers — or just keep nearby as an easy reference to guide your conversations on the value of certification. You can find “The Value of Certification” flyer by clicking on the above link, or in the Resource Library under Certification>Certification Promotion Resources for Ambassadors in the Read and Share section.

Just a Reminder: Don’t Forget These Ambassador Resources

These three long-standing Ambassador Resources will help you on a broad range of initiatives:

• Resource Library. This is a one-stop shop for quick access to a myriad of vital AACN information you need as an Ambassador.
• Resource Order Form. Here’s your source for free materials to help promote AACN initiatives from NTI, to certification, to membership.
• Best Practices. A top resource for all Ambassadors, this is where you go to review the best practices of others and share yours.

Election 2013:   Push for 100% Vote in First Week

Voting for our 2014–16 Board of Directors and 2014 Nominating Committee opens March 22 and closes April 22. But, as we suggested last month, Dare To commit to get 100% of your unit to vote the first week, March 22–29.

Don’t forget these three key strategies:

• Encourage your colleagues to take the time now to review the candidate profiles that are posted online so they are ready to cast their ballots when voting opens.
• Order a free supply of “I Dared To Vote” stickers today through the Ambassador Resource Order Form.
  • Ask colleagues who vote to wear them to ramp up the voting momentum in your unit.
• Lead by example and Dare To cast your ballot on March 22 — and let your colleagues know you did!

Introducing AACN Critical Care Webinar Series

In April, AACN will launch a new series of live, evidence-based practice webinars designed to provide our nursing community with the most current best practices and implementation tools for the care of acutely and critically ill patients.

Developed with the needs and busy schedules of nurses in mind, the AACN Critical Care Webinar Series offers monthly 30-minute presentations by nationally recognized speakers on a variety of clinical topics, all free of charge.

The series will begin on Thursday, April 18, at 10 a.m. PDT. Author and educator Kathleen Vollman, RN, MSN, CCNS, FCCM, FAAN, will present “Evidence vs. Tradition: Examining the Science of Bathing Critically Ill Adults.”
You can register online now.

The webinar series will focus on contemporary issues in acute and critical care nursing and provide tools to translate the evidenced based information into action steps for implementation in your unit. Future webinars will cover topics such as updated sepsis guidelines and alarm management. Watch for dates and topics in CriticalCare eNewsline.

How you can help

• Speak with nurse educators, nurse managers and Clinical Nurse Specialists in your facility to highlight this new monthly educational opportunity. Encourage them to act now to organize a group of nurses for the inaugural April 18 webinar or to promote it to individual nurses.
• Organize a group yourself to participate in the April 18 webinar.
• Direct your colleagues to the AACN website for more information.

Dates to Remember