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NASN Director's Report
by Carol Boal RN, NCSN
It has been a very busy year as National Director, and especially since being elected by the Board of Directors to the NASN Executive Committee last June. You will find in this WSNA Newsletter other information from the National level: NASN Strategic Plan and request for your input for revising/updating; new NASN Discussion Lists information; information about the NASN 36th Annual Conference in Seattle. I encourage you to take an active interest and participate to the fullest in the benefits of being a WSNA/NASN member.
Programs and Resources:
Membership has reached beyond the 11,500 member mark - growth is good! Encourage school nurses in your area to join and be members of our progressive organization.
Diabetes and 'trained diabetes personnel' in our schools is still a big issue across the U.S. Most schools DO NOT have a school nurse in every school to make this issue a non-issue.
Obesity, 'sugar loaded' vending machines, and lack of physical activity in schools is still a major issue for our students.
Advocacy:
All NASN Position Statements and Issue Briefs are posted on the nasn.org web site. There are always statements and briefs that are being revised - see the Table of Contents on the web site.
Three manuals have been drafted and currently being reviewed before publication: Spinal Screening Guidelines for Schools Nurses, Using Nursing Languages in School Nursing Practice, and Depression in School Age Youth: the Role of the School Nurse.
The Comprehensive Textbook on School Nursing has 26 of 50 chapters sent to reviewers.
From June to October, 2003, NASN has been represented by members or staff at 21 meetings or conferences. There have been many NASN liaison activities and collaboration between NASN and other organizations/agencies.
Public Relations:
The Nasn.org has grown in popularity with the average number of monthly visits coming in at 28,514 for Fiscal Year 2003. This is an increase in monthly visits of 41% over 2002.
NASN Newsletter and The Journal of School Nursing are informative publications to members. The Weekly Digest is on the web site.
Research:
The NASN Membership Survey is important to keeping statistics for our organization.
Current Issues:
Two big issues before NASN at the current time are the selection of a new Executive Director and the future change in location of the NASN office. At our Executive Committee meeting at the end of March, we will be conducting interviews of Executive Director applicants. The change in office location from Castle Rock, Colorado(Western office) and Scarborough, Maine(Eastern office) to an as yet to be determined Washington, DC area location will begin to happen in 2005.
New NASN Discussion Lists
As NASN members, please participate in any of the following NASN Discussion Lists that interest you. You can ask questions and get answers from school nurses across the country! Or if you have a question, put it on the 'list' and see what responses you get.
highschool@lists.nasn.org
elementary@lists.nasn.org
ppsn@lists.nasn.org(private and parochial school nurses)
specialneeds@lists.nasn.org
administrator@lists.nasn.org
earlychildhood@lists.nasn.org
educator@lists.nasn.org
NASN's 36th Annual Conference
"Building Tomorrow Today: Establishing the Legacy"
July 11-14, 2004
Seattle, Washington
(Pre-Conference July 10, 2004)
NASN Conference Hotel - Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers
adjacent to
Washington State Convention Center
(Look for Registration Information to come in the mail in March)
See you in Seattle!
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