ANNA Annual Symposium will help nurses focus on profession, work environment
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Nurses who attend the American Nephrology Nurses Association Annual Symposium in May will have an opportunity to recharge their enthusiasm for kidney care, organizers told Nephrology News & Issues.
“The past 2 years have been challenging for all nurses, nephrology nurses included,” Tamara Kear, PhD, RN, CNN, FAAN, executive director of ANNA, told Nephrology News & Issues. “Many have said it has been a challenging couple of years professionally.”
The national symposium, being held in Fort Worth, Texas from May 22 to May 25, will open with a talk by keynote speaker Cindra Kamphoff, PhD, CMPC, CPP. Her session, “Beyond grit: Embracing passion and purpose to gain the high-performance edge,” will give attendees an opportunity to redefine their original passion for nursing, Kear said.
”Our speaker believes that the mental side of performance, whether as a direct care nurse, a leader or an educator, is an important aspect of one’s ability to function in that role in a high performative way,” Kear said. “And when one has positive feelings about what one does, the ability to be passionate and have purpose becomes clearer to self and to others.”
Work setting
Other sessions at the conference are aimed at helping nurses reduce the stress in their work setting. Two sessions entitled, “Strategies to inspire healthy work environments,” are being presented by Carolyn Latham, DNP, MBA, MSN, RN, CNN, and Charlotte Thomas-Hawkins, PhD, RN, FAAN.
“Working in healthy environments, both physically healthy and emotionally supportive and healthy, is imperative for one to work at one’s best,” Sally Russell, MN, BSN, RN, CMSRN, CNE, director of education services for ANNA, told Nephrology News & Issues. “There are always stressors related to working with chronically ill patients who often have multiple health concerns. This session spends time focusing on how leaders of nursing departments, hospital units and dialysis facilities can facilitate a healthy environment.
Nurse recruitment
A critical nursing shortage exists in many specialties in the United States, including in nephrology. A session on recruiting and retaining new graduate nurses will help dialysis providers and transplant programs retain nurses. “There has been a nursing shortage for many years, and the past 2 years has exacerbated the shortage,” Kear said.
“This is certainly true in nephrology – and the challenge in nephrology nursing is the fact that many new nurses aren’t aware of the opportunities in nephrology nursing and the varied practice settings, so they do not consider this specialty and its many career paths,” Kear said. “Therefore, this truly is an important session for all nephrology nurse leaders.”
While there are a number of behaviors that may impact the health of a working kidney, smoking is a major factor that does not receive a great deal of attention. A session entitled, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire: Renal considerations with tobacco use,” will be presented by Cynthia Smith, DNP, APRN, CNN-NP, FNP-BC, FNKF, at the conference and is aimed at helping patients with smoking cessation.
“Smoking increases the chances for many chronic diseases, and it is important to realize that many of the patients that nephrology nurses care for either smoke, live with a smoker or once smoked,” Russell said. “However, the risk for kidney disease is not presented prominently in the media or in teaching done at schools, so this session is designed to assist nephrology nurses to make that connection.”
Nurses will be able to take advantage of remote learning for the symposium, as Kear said it will provide more options for nurses. “The hybrid format allows registrants to attend in person or from the comfort of their home or place of employment. Hybrid options increase meeting options for attendees who may not be able to travel and for those who look forward to joining with other attendees in person,” Kear said.
For more information on the ANNA National Symposium, visit www.annanurse.org. – by Mark E. Neumann
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