Welcome to our first issue of NANN E-News! We will be bringing you important news and information about your professional association. Be sure to forward this newsletter to a friend or colleague. And thank you for being a member of NANN, the only nonprofit association exclusively for neonatal nurses!

Lori Armstrong, MSN RN, NANN President

 

It is my pleasure to pen this article for the inaugural issue of NANN E-News. In an effort to communicate more frequently and effectively with our members, NANN will be publishing an electronic newsletter in alternate months. This e-newsletter will supplement the NANN Central news poster that you now receive three times per year and the bimonthly Advances in Neonatal Care (ANC), NANN's official journal, in bringing you vital news that supports you in your daily practice.
 
As most of you know, we have just begun celebrating NANN's 25th anniversary. We are looking forward to interviews in ANC with NANN's founders and an exciting anniversary celebration at the annual educational conference in Austin, TX, in September. With the recent downturn in the global economy, it is even more important for us to seize on these opportunities for celebration. At the same time, we are all taking a step back personally and professionally to reflect on what is important and to change course if necessary.
 
The NANN board met in February and did just that. After much thought and discussion, we re-evaluated the 2009 strategic plan. Although our focus on education, advocacy, research, and member engagement remains, we have reprioritized project timelines and are concentrating on the activities that are closest to NANN's core mission.
 
Two things happened at the board's February meeting. First and foremost, after discussing ways to strengthen the strategic plan, the NANN board found its voice. Leadership author and researcher Stephen R. Covey believes that only by finding one's own voice can a person inspire others to find theirs. When we engage in work that taps our talent and fuels our passion, in work that meets a great need in the world that we feel drawn by conscience to meet, therein lies our voice, our calling, our soul's code (Covey, 2004). You may not have heard our voice ringing out from NANN's home office in Chicago in early February, but you certainly will hear (and see) it in everything that we accomplish in 2009-2010. What we are saying (perhaps yelling) is this: NANN is the only nonprofit professional nursing association that is exclusively dedicated to neonatal nurses and to the patients and families in their care. We have found our voice, and our goal is to use this voice to inspire others to find theirs.
 
Second, we realized NANN's tremendous potential. We have more members than ever and more members than ever reaching out to volunteer. Through the hard work, loyalty, and commitment of our members, we will be able to achieve our goals despite the hard times we face.
 
Recent statistics published in January 2009 by the March of Dimes revealed that preterm birth rates in the United States continue to rise. According to the National Center for Health Statistics report Births: Final Data for 2006, the nation's preterm birth rate rose to 12.8 percent in 2006, a 36% increase from the rate in the early 1980s, putting more infants than ever at increased risk of death and disability.
 
We in neonatal nursing have a role in reversing this two-decade-long increase in infant morbidity and mortality. Some may ask, What can I do that would make such an impact? But you already make a difference: one patient at a time, one orientee at a time, or one classroom at a time. All these efforts have ripple effects on the care that we as neonatal nurses deliver. You will have a chance this year to volunteer for NANN in multiple ways. You can

This list goes on and on. If you are a NANN member, encourage a nonmember to join. Together we will have a bigger and stronger voice--a voice that can help to change those statistics.
 
It is up to all of us to make the beginning of NANN's 25th year the beginning of how we (NANN) make a positive impact on the outcomes of every patient that we care for and the families that they are born into.
 
You assumed enormous responsibility when you became a nurse. You assumed even more responsibility by choosing to specialize in caring for neonates, the most vulnerable of populations. You are their voice. At times you are the voice of their families. Join NANN, and together we will be the voice that shapes neonatal nursing for the next 25 years. And it is my hope that in the year 2034 we are able to demonstrate through research a steady and sustainable decline in preterm births and in the morbidity and mortality of infants throughout the United States.
 
References
Covey, S. R. (2004). The 8th habit: From effectiveness to greatness. New York: Free Press.
March of Dimes. (2009). Preterm births rise 36 percent since early 1980s. Retrieved February 17, 2009, from www.marchofdimes.com/peristats/whatsnew.aspx?id=35&dv=wn.

    

Beginning April 25, NANN will offer a series of engaging presentations on care-centered topics that will increase your knowledge and understanding of the neonate. The "Ask the Professor" Webcasts will be delivered by experts whose presentations were the best-attended and most highly rated at NANN's 2008 conference.
 
To fit your demanding schedule, these presentations will be available on demand through the Internet. To meet your needs for interaction with the faculty, an online discussion forum will be carried on for several weeks following each presentation.

 

NANN offered four $500 scholarships to attend the NICU Leadership Forum, April 22-25, 2009, in Tucson, AZ. We are pleased to announce the four NANN members who received the scholarships. Congratulations to Elizabeth Burcin, York, PA; Kim Failla, Ramona, CA; Linda Rankin, Oro Valley, AZ; and Kathleen Walker, Mesa, AZ.

 

Looking for a way to influence healthcare legislation? The Nurse in Washington Internship (NIWI) provides nurses the opportunity to learn how to influence health care through the legislative and regulatory processes. Participants learn from health policy experts and government officials, network with other nurses, and visit members of Congress.

 

NIWI is open to any registered nurse or nursing student interested in learning more about the legislative process. NIWI 2009 will be held at The Liaison Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 29-31, 2009. For more information, visit the Nursing Organizations Alliance Web site at www.nursing-alliance.org or call 859/514-9157.