Raising the Stakes for Nursing Informatics was the theme of the third ANIA-CARING collaborative conference held in Las Vegas, NV, April 23-25, 2009. The ANIA-CARING Conference Planning team led by Victoria M. Bradley did a stellar job in engaging excellent speakers and attracting exhibitors and attendees. Our thanks go to both Boards and specifically Committee members: James J. Finley, Katherine A. Holzmacher, Susan K. Newbold, Libertad B. 'Liberty' Rovira, Sally S. Russell, Patrick G. Shannon, and Vicki D. Vallejos.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
There were four pre-conference sessions offering a more in depth look at a variety of topics. The 'Writing for Publication' tutorial was taught yet another year by Kathleen C. Kimmel and Carlene Anteau. Brian Gugerty and Lisa Anne Bove repeated their popular 'Project Management for Nurses.' 'Making Change--The Dollar and Sense Essentials of System Implementation' was presented by Marina Douglas. Victoria M. Bradley and Steve Shaha lead the workshop entitled 'Measuring Clinical Acceptance and Outcomes of Clinical Information Systems.' The main conference kicked off on Thursday evening with an opening reception in the exhibit hall. This gave everyone an opportunity to network, get re-acquainted with colleagues and friends, meet new friends, as well as engage with the exhibitors. A hearty thanks to all of the exhibitors that provided the attendees with the backdrop to enjoy the opening reception and the other exhibit hall hours.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Friday morning's opening keynote session set the tone for the other informative educational sessions that were offered during the conference. Marilyn Chow, DNSc, RN, FAAN presented the opening keynote session entitled 'How Nurses Spend Their Time: Effects on Quality and Safety in Hospitals.' A fundamental element from Dr. Chow is that 'A nurse is not an interface.' Since the nurse cannot be the human interaction between all systems, the interfaces between systems need to be 'seamless' and behind the scenes. Therefore, four (4) principles of technology are:
1. Patient-centered design;
2. System-wide integrated technology;
3. Seamless workplace environments; and
4. Vendor partnerships.
It is imperative the vendors work together to create devices and technology that are more efficient and less complex for healthcare and decreases the number of 'one hit wonders' and 'silo systems.' Dr. Chow also presented Kaiser Permanente's past successes as well as their innovative work at the Garfield Center. This center has four zones of innovation for prototypes, the hospital setting, the home setting, and the clinic setting. Technology is designed based on the four principles of design thinking of tools, processes, roles, and spaces. Dr. Chow challenged the attendees to:
1. Understand the work environment;
2. Be alert how to simplify the environment;
3. Be astute observers of how nurses interact with biomedical and clinical IT devices;
4. Be translators of technology 'gobbly gook,' and
5. Think about how to integrate new clinical technology seamlessly into the work environment.
On Saturday morning, Kathleen Shinn, BSN, RN presented the general session entitled 'Alyssa's Story: The Heart of a Medical Error.' This was Kathleen's personal story of a medical error that occurred during the care of her infant daughter which tragically resulted in her death. She presented Alyssa's story and then recommended changes that need to be implemented within technology as well as processes to prevent medical errors. COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION is key for people, processes and technology. It is also extremely important to always communicate with patients and their families, especially when there are any potential issues with the care provided. The keynote session motivated the attendees to design, implement, and use technology and processes that will decrease the opportunities for medical errors to occur.
Marion J. Ball, EdD, FHIMSS, FCHIME, presented the closing general session on Saturday afternoon entitled 'Emerging Technologies: Transforming Health Care: Current and Future Impact on Patient Safety, Culture, and Process.' As for any current, emerging, or future technology to be successful and have a positive impact on patient safety, culture and processes, the three key elements of people, processes, and technology must be intertwined and integrate seamlessly. She emphasized elements of IT success, teamwork and the role of the nurse in healthcare informatics. Dr. Ball's presentation reinforced the information presented throughout the conference.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Although time and space do not allow for a synopsis of each presentation between the opening keynote session and the closing general session, the other presentations ranged from career development to informatics competencies to clinical adoption, implementation, and outcomes of technology. These sessions provided information that would be beneficial for the novice or the expert and anyone in between, all were well done.
Posters were presented and the attendees were hard-pressed to select the best three (3) posters out of the 16 presented. The People's Choice Award Winner was Beth Kilmoyer who won a free registration to the 2010 ANIA-CARING conference with her work 'Raising the Stakes in Medication Administration Safety: Sustainability of a Barcode Medication Administration System.' Susan K. Newbold, Kathleen C. Kimmel, Randy A. O'Steen, and Gina S. Moran were the First Runner Up awardees with their 'Survey Results: Best Practices in Implementing Automated Nursing/Interdisciplinary Documentation Systems.' Rhonda Struck presented 'Using Workflow Assessment to Understand the Impact of Electronic Clinical Documentation on Nursing Practice' for the Second Runner Up title.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
The ANIA-CARING Membership Celebration Luncheon on Friday was an opportunity to network as well as hear organization updates. James J. Finley, ANIA President, presented the ANIA annual meeting reports and Jerald T. Chamberlain, CARING President, presented the CARING annual meeting reports to the membership. Mr. Finley also updated the membership on the status of the ANIA-CARING merger. More information will be released to the membership as we progress through and finalize the process.
We had over 300 attendees at this year's event and eighteen exhibitors. 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 Boston, MA, April 22-24, 2010. The theme of the conference is 'Re-Evolution in Nursing Informatics' with Dr. Peter J. Murray as an invited keynote. The call for abstracts for posters and presentations is July 27-August 31, 2009. Please consider submitting an abstract for a poster and/or a presentation. We look forward seeing many of you next year!
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
By Amy Jacobs, MSN, RN-BC, and Susan K. Newbold, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN, FHIMSS
