On missing nursing conferences during the pandemic.

Almost each year since it began, I would fly to wherever the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) was holding its annual National Teaching Institute (NTI). At first, I attended because I was a critical care nurse, working in the emergency shock trauma area of New York City’s Bellevue Hospital, and found the content invaluable. I had also joined the local chapter and knew others going to the meeting. I remember my first NTI in New Orleans—so many sessions, and meeting other nurses from around the country who were doing such amazing work gave me a sense of pride in my profession.

As my career progressed and I moved away from direct patient care into staff development, I would still attend to keep up with new information that I needed to incorporate into educational offerings. When I began working with AJN, first in CE and then as news director, I still attended to keep up to date and to network.

The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted life and conferences—while virtual conferences at least offered content updates, they lacked the opportunity for personal networking that I find so important. This year there was an in-person NTI, but I opted not to attend because of the highly contagious COVID-19 variants in circulation.

But what I did do was what something that has become an AJN-AACN tradition—I interviewed the outgoing president (Beth Wathen) and the incoming president (Amanda Bettencourt), who will take the helm on July 1. We talked about Beth’s year as president during a pandemic and about what she felt was her main focus (advocacy for nurses, including participating in the recent, multi-organization Nursing Staffing Think Tank).

And Amanda outlined her forward-thinking theme—“Starting Now”—to note that we can shape our future and right now there is a great opportunity and sense of urgency for nursing to do that.  Her quote from writer James Sherman summed it up: “You can’t go back and make a brand-new start, but you can start right now and make a brand-new ending.”

Framing our work in broad terms: why keynotes actually matter.

In the early part of my career, I often didn’t attend the keynote sessions at conferences and concentrated on mostly clinical content. But I gradually realized that the messages delivered in keynote sessions were valuable in framing our work in a broader way. They often provided context on issues and concerns that I realized I had but hadn’t really thought about. I sometimes found myself mulling over the presentation long after it was finished. Wathen’s presidential theme, “Rooted in Strength,” was hopeful and much needed during the pandemic. Bettencourt’s theme for her upcoming year, “Starting Now,” is appropriate as the nursing profession grapples with moving forward to address the many challenges exacerbated by the pandemic.

Conferences: a crucial element of professional development.

Last week’s Nurses Month theme focused on professional development. If you haven’t yet experienced a national conference, give yourself a gift and attend one of the many that occur each year. Not only will you update your clinical knowledge and make new contacts (and maybe friends!), but you might also come away thinking differently about what you do, how you do it, and what might be a different career path.

You can listen to the podcast interview with the AACN presidents here: