On November 8, 2008 President-elect Gilliss and I had the honor of welcoming 92 new fellows into the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). These exemplary men and women, who influence health and health policy nationally and internationally, join with top nursing executives, policymakers, scholars, researchers, and practitioners who are fellows of the Academy. Fellowship in AAN recognizes significant contributions to nursing and health care, and the potential to continue to contribute to the Academy's mission to serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. The recent addition of international fellows to our body greatly enhances our ability to be global in this mission. Please see our website for these newest fellows:
www.aan.org.
While these new fellows were welcomed at a gala ceremony, I want to emphasize that the work of the Academy is far more than a yearly opportunity to have a conference and celebrate the accomplishments of the newest members. The Academy is made up of more than 1500 nursing leaders in education, management, practice, and research. Leadership positions held by Academy Fellows include university presidents, chancellors, and deans; state and federal political appointees; hospital chief executives and vice presidents for nursing; researchers and entrepreneurs; and practicing nurses. We anticipate and track national and international trends in health care, while addressing resulting issues of healthcare knowledge and policy.
During this past year we have successfully transferred our entire operational base to our Washington, DC, office. This has been critical in enabling our staff and members to be actively involved in the rapidly changing health policy scene, in concert with one of the goals of our strategic plan—to establish the Academy as the credible source for translating nursing's beneficial impact on health care. We seek to influence the national debate on current and future healthcare delivery systems to promote policies that secure adequate, personalized health services for patients, families, and communities.
Through our expert panels, commissions, and funded grants, we are engaging our fellows, key partners, and stakeholders in our goal to transform the current health system into one that is designed to holistically treat patients and their families, provide integration, measure the impact of care, and educate health professionals across disciplines. Over the past year we have worked with key nursing organization partners—American Nurses Association (ANA), American Association of Retired Persons’ (AARP) Center to Champion Nursing, American Organization of Nursing Executives (AONE)—to champion funding for nursing education and research and keep a nursing voice at many tables. Other partners in tracking and influencing health care reform include the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, Alliance for Health Reform, National Workforce Alliance to Care for an Aging America, AARP's Divided We Fail campaign, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Aligning Forces initiative, Bipartisan Policy Center, Health Care Now Coalition, Children's Health Group, and the Health IT Now Coalition.
American Academy of Nurses fellows and staff are exerting leadership in the National Quality Forum, which is working to develop and implement a national strategy for healthcare quality measurement and reporting. As a member, the Academy and our nurse experts are contributing to the widely based effort to develop standards and practices that assure the best possible healthcare delivery.
A concrete example of bringing the work of nurses to national attention is the Raise the Voice campaign, one of the Academy's hallmark initiatives. Thanks to the funding provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we have been able to increase our efforts and inform the media, policymakers, health leaders, and the general public that nurses are using their unique insight to take action and create innovative solutions that provide affordable, coordinated, and effective care that Americans so urgently need. “Edge Runners” are nurses who are doing innovative work that is out of the mainstream and that is changing health care. Raise the Voice highlights these Edge Runners in the following ways:
In March, 4 Edge Runners presented at the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) Conference. During that same conference, >30 reporters visited the Family Health and Birth Center founded by Edge Runner and Academy Fellow Ruth Watson Lubic, EdD, RN, CNM, FAAN. All of the Edge Runners were very well received, and the Academy staff has begun discussions about what can be done at AHCJ's 2009 conference.
In July, The American Academy of Nursing partnered with the Alliance for Health Reform—a nonprofit group that hosts Capitol Hill briefings—on a forum entitled “Innovations in Patient Care: Lessons from the Field.” The panelists for this event included: Reed Tuckson, MD, UnitedHealth Group and Raise the Voice Advisory Council member; Mary Naylor, PhD, RN, FAAN, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and AAN Edge Runner; Audrey Nelson, PhD, RN, FAAN, Veterans Administration and AAN Edge Runner; Rick Kellerman, MD, the American Academy of Family Physicians. Over 200 people attended this event, which the Kaiser Network filmed; the full video and other information can be found at the website: http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2843. If you have not already done so, I strongly encourage you to watch the video.
Through Raise the Voice, we have formed an important alliance with the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD). When the PFCD began putting together their Almanac of Chronic Disease, I was asked to write the introduction to chapter one, which demonstrated the human cost of chronic diseases. In addition, Pat Ford-Roegner participated on 1 of the 4 major panels at the Health Care Symposium, called Fighting Chronic Disease: The Missing Link in Health Care Reform hosted by the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease. A number of prominent health, media, and political experts, also spoke at the symposium. For a full list of speakers, please see the Academy's press release: http://www.aannet.org/i4a/pages/headlinedetails.cfm?id=137. In addition, a Web cast of the event can be found at: http://kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/health2008hc.cfm?&hc=2816. During the symposium, the PFCD released the new “Keeping America Healthy: A Guide to Successful Programs,” which highlights a number of Edge Runners. In addition to the extensive, hard-copy document, a website (http://promisingpractices.fightchronicdisease.org) has been launched on which you can search the database of programs and submit additional programs to be considered for inclusion on the site.
In October, the Academy, along with the John A. Hartford Foundation, hosted a media roundtable discussion with editors from women's health magazines in New York City. The discussion focused on innovations in patient care and care coordination. Jennie Chin Hansen, MS, RN, FAAN, President of AARP and a representative from Evercare presented at the meeting.
We just concluded our annual conference: Health as a Bridge to Global Peace. Nursing and health experts from all over the world convened to hear renowned speakers from the United States, Botswana, and the World Health Organization challenged us with specific strategies the nursing profession can use to improve global health, shared challenges and opportunities in the field of global health; and provided many opportunities to explore the relationships between world peace, the health of nations, and the health of the people of each nation.
We welcome our newest fellows to join us as we launch even more ambitious activities over the coming year.
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