Re-Evolution in Nursing Informatics was the theme of the newly merged ANIA-CARING organization, held in Boston, MA April 22-24, 2010. The ANIA-CARING Conference Planning team led by James J. Finley, MBA, BSN, RN-BC did a great job in engaging excellent speakers and attracting exhibitors and attendees. Thanks go to the ANIA-CARING Board and especially the Conference Planning Committee members: Lisa Anne Bove, MSN, RN-BC, Victoria Bradley, DNP, RN, FHIMSS, PHIMS, Debra Fortin, M.Ed, RNC, CNOR, Daniel Gracie, MSN, RN, FHIMSS, CPHIMS, Libertad (Liberty) Rovira, MN, RN-BC, CPHIMS, and Patrick Shannon, MS, RN, CPHIMS.
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We started the conference with pre-conference sessions offering a more in depth look at a variety of topics. Due to popular demand, the full day 'Writing for Publication' tutorial was repeated and taught by Kathleen C. Kimmel and Carlene Anteau. All the other pre-sessions were half-day sessions. Starting the day was Victoria M. Bradley and Steve Shaha who led the workshop entitled 'Substantiating Value: Evaluation Tools in HIT Implementation--Questionnaires and Focus Groups' and Lisa Anne Bove and Susan Houston discussed 'Program Management'. Two afternoon sessions were also offered. Marina Douglas, MS, RN presented 'Making Change: Understanding the Team Mindset' and Rosemary Kennedy, RN, MBA, FAAN, Connie White Delaney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI, and Judith J. Warren, PhD, RN, BC, FAAN, FACMI presented 'Nursing Informatics Impact on the National HIT Agenda'.
The main conference kicked off on Thursday evening with our first Regional Meeting and Welcome Reception. With the merger, we have added Regional Directors so we can better support our members where they live and work. The four Regional Directors met with members in each region to network on options for education and networking at the regional level.
This reception gave everyone an opportunity to network, get re-acquainted with colleagues and friends, and meet new friends in the Region where they work and/or live.
Friday morning's opening keynote session set the tone for the rest of the conference. Despite potential flight issues due to the Icelandic volcano ash, Peter J. Murray, PhD, RN, FBCS CITP arrived from the UK and presented an international look at nursing informatics with his keynote entitled 'A Boston IT Party--International Re-Evolutions in Nursing Informatics.'
After the opening keynote, participants were invited to browse the exhibit hall and view posters. There were over 30 posters and a whole host of healthcare vendors who supported the conference. The rest of the day included breakout following four tracks including Education and Career Development, Improving System Implementation, Contributions to Patient Care, and Innovations in Nursing Informatics. Speakers came from the US and abroa presented topics on implementations in many units and facilities, education at the staff nurse, physician and higher education level, as well as innovative ideas from many informatics nurses.
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All participants were invited to join the ANIA--CARING Board of Directors for our first business meeting luncheon. During the meeting, President Victoria M. Bradley, RN, DNP, CPHIMS, FHIMSS introduced the current board and thanked previous members of both ANIA and CARING who helped to form the new group. The role of the Regional Director and Nominations Committee were also discussed. The Maggie Cox award was presented to Daniel Gracie for his article on 'Wiki Basics for Healthcare Informatics.' Service Awards for dedication to the profession of nursing informatics were presented to Sandy Alfon RN, MSN, FNP-BC, Barbara Medling RN, BSN, CNOR, RN-BC, Linda Wittrup RN, MA, Liberty Rovira MN, RN-BC, CPHIMS, Katherine A. Holzmacher, MS, RN-BC, NP, CPHIT, CPEHR, Marianela Zytowski DNP, MS, BSN, RN-BC and Cathy M. Walter RN, MBA, MS.
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We ended Friday with an optional session that almost all attendees attended! Patricia Hinton Walker, PhD, RN, FAAN, CMC presented 'Keys to 'Meaningful Use' Success: TIGER Initiative Phase III's Virtual Learning and Interdisciplinary Collaboration.' This session will be updated at the next year's conference.
Saturday started with a keynote entitled 'Ten Steps for Creating your Roadmap to EHR Meaningful Use' presented by Judy Murphy, RN, FACMI, FHIMSS. Judy outlined the federal initiatives and agencies focused on increasing the widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and defined the key funding streams from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) aimed to accelerate EHR adoption and describe the key components that comprise the definition of EHR 'meaningful use' required for access to the ARRA funds in 2011. In addition, Judy explained the maturation model of 'meaningful use' criteria through 2015, and discussed how to create a roadmap for an organization to achieve EHR meaningful use and receive the federal incentives. At the conclusion of her dynamic presentation, it was like a rock concert where the stage was rushed by attendees hoping to meet and talk with Judy.
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Participants then spent the rest of the day in a variety of breakout sessions, and another chance to visit posters and the vendors.
We closed the session with Rosemary Kennedy, RN, MBA, FAAN who presented on the 'Re-Evolution of Quality Measurement Through Informatics'. Rosemary reviewed requirements necessary to enable automated quality measurement as a byproduct of EHR data capture. She also shared some examples showing how standardized quality data sets can enable the power of the EHR in quality measurement will be presented.
The poster presentation section of the conference continued this year to be one of the more popular and engaging activities. This year set a record with 38 post--ers presented by ANIA-CARING members. The range of topics extended from education to practice, research and implementation work. The second year of the 'People's Choice Award' for posters was a very successful judging activity, and Shirley Schiavone's, poster, 'An Informatics Council Re-Evolutionizes Bedside Nurses Relationship with Technology' took home the top prize and a complimentary registration to the 2011 ANIA-CARING conference.
A special thank you to our sponsors: Zynx Health, Enterprise Software Deployment, Eclipsys, and CMIO Media, a division of TriMed Media, and our 19 exhibitors Center for Healthcare Innovations, Code Corporation, Elsevier-CPM Resource Center, Enterprise Software Deployment, Hospira, Howard Medical, Intermetro Industries, Jannetti Publications, inc. MEDITECH, PEPID, ProVation Medical, RMS Omega Technologies, Thomson Reuters, University of Washington School of Nursing, Welch Allyn, and Zebra Technologies.
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We had over 390 attendees at this year's event. Most of the presentations were available to attendees on a flash drive distributed at the conference. Attendees could obtain contact hours for participating. Evaluations indicated that most attendees received value from attending the conference.
Next year's conference is scheduled for Las Vegas Hilton on May 12-14, 2011. The call for abstracts for posters and presentations is July 19-August 27, 2010. Please consider submitting an abstract for a poster and/or a presentation. We look forward seeing many of you next year!
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Lisa Anne Bove, MSN, RN-BC
James J. Finley, MBA, RN-BC
