AAMC Nurses make an impact at 2015 Magnet Conference
What a thrill is was to represent AAMC at the 2015 Magnet Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. More than 7,000 nurses, nursing executives, and healthcare professionals from top hospitals around the world attended — AAMC nurses were able to network with colleagues from Korea, Saudi Arabia, and all over the United States.
Most exciting was the opportunity to present the great work that we are doing here at home. AAMC participated in three podium presentations:
Advancing and Standardizing New Nurse Graduate Education: Implementing a Statewide Nurse Residency Collaborative. Presented by Sherry Perkins, PhD, RN, NEA-BC and colleagues Joan Warren, PhD, RN-BC, NEA-BC (MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center) and Mary Ann Greene, DNP, RN, NEA-BC (Maryland Organization for Nurse Executives). Feedback from participants: “Great session, wow!” “Would love to get more information!”
Innovative Magnet Program Director Role of Two Staff Nurses. Presented by Holly Greever, MSN, RN; Rita Linnenkamp, BSN, RN; and Sherry Perkins, PhD, RN, NEA-BC. Feedback from participants: “Inspiring and wonderful” “Best so far!”
When Nurses Can’t COPE: A Successful Peer Support Program Model in an Acute Care Hospital. Presented by Carol Lacher, MSN, RN; Christine Frost, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC; Debra Keane, RN; and Lisa Davis, MSN, RNC-OB. Feedback from participants: “So relate-able and powerful.” “Brilliant”
Feedback on Did we make an impact? Debra Keane, RN, who was part of the team who presented on COPE, had this to say about the experience:
On October 8, 2015, I nervously stood with my colleagues in front of 343 nurses and spoke of my passion for the COPE program. We discussed the harmful and erroneous expectations that, after a traumatic experience, healthcare professionals should “suck it up” and “move on to the next case.” As a nurse with 28 years of ED experience, I described how I would sometimes feel numb and alone after a bad patient outcome — and that I would cry in the bathroom or on the way home. I could feel the nurses in the room identifying with me — many of us were in tears.
The message my colleagues and I delivered was this: NO STAFF MEMBER EVER HAS TO FEEL THAT WAY AGAIN. At AAMC, we are witness to the caring that now takes place after a traumatic event, through our COPE interventions, and also peer to peer.
I spoke with many nurses afterwards who wanted to implement a similar program at their institution. But the clincher for me was when I was at the airport, waiting for my flight home, and a woman came running up to me and started hugging me. She told me that I had really touched her heart when I spoke and that she was definitely taking back what she learned to her hospital.
I almost didn’t need a plane to fly home.
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