Neonatal Network:
The Journal of
Neonatal Nursing
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Greetings! The Academy
Connection, now in its second year of publication, is the e-newsletter for neonatal
nurses to keep up to date on medical alerts, hot neonatal topics, scholarship
and funding opportunities, and the latest research, publication, and
educational resources.
Through the Academy Connection, you
can conveniently access Neonatal Network:® The Journal of Neonatal Nursing, renew
your ANN membership, and communicate with the Academy office concerning publication
ideas, case studies, web links, and suggestions. We'd love to hear from you!
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FDA Updates & Alerts
Contaminated Heparin
Despite a
recall in January, heparin containing contaminates causing anaphylaxis continues
to be used. The FDA is urging all health care professionals to examine all
cabinets, emergency carts, and drug storage devices for the contaminated
heparin. This announcement was made through the FDA Safety Information and
Adverse Event Reporting Program, MedWatch. Complete details for identifying and
reporting the contaminated heparin can be found here.
BPA Task Force
In April 2008, the
FDA formed an agency-wide BPA (Bisphenol A) task force to review the concerns
presented in a published draft brief from the National Toxicology Program and
the Canadian draft risk assessment related to the potential health risks from
plastics containing BPA. Despite widespread concerns, the FDA states on their
web site,
"At this time, FDA is not recommending that anyone discontinue using products
that contain BPA. However, concerned consumers should know that several
alternatives to polycarbonate baby bottles exist, including glass baby
bottles."
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Call for Posters & Papers
"CREATING
EXCELLENCE IN THE NICU"
8th National Neonatal Nurses Meeting: Washington,
DC
New! Call
for Abstracts
Podium presentations at the recent 5th
National Advanced Practice Neonatal Nurses Conference in Miami
were well received, so we have added two sessions for podium presentations to
the Washington, DC, meeting line-up. In keeping with our
theme of "Creating Excellence in the NICU," we invite 15-minute podium
presentation abstract submissions. Presentations are welcome in three
categories: Innovative Programs; Research; and Case Studies. See Call for Abstracts for
details and click here
for the Podium Presenter Form. Deadline for the application and abstract is
July 1, 2008. Presenters will be notified by July 15, 2008.
Call for
Poster Abstracts
Have a new idea or program? Research?
Interesting case study? The Academy
of Neonatal Nursing™ and
Neonatal Network® invite you to share your knowledge and expertise by submitting
a poster for presentation. See the Call for Posters for details and click here for the Poster Presenter Form. Submit a
short abstract (250 words or less) summarizing your poster content. Posters
will be displayed on a 4' x 8' display board at the meeting. Poster presentations
are fun and a great way to "get the word out" to your colleagues. Deadline for
the application and abstract is July 1, 2008. Presenters will be notified by
July 15, 2008.
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Membership Recruitment Drive Updates
Renew!
Recruit! Win a Library of Books from NICU Ink®!
The NICU with the highest percentage
of ANN members by July 31st will win a library of books from NICU Ink
Books. The winning unit will be notified by September 1, 2008, and
will be recognized at the National Neonatal Nurses Meeting in Washington, DC,
October 8-11, 2008. For more information, click here and get
recruiting!
Winter Recruitment Drive
Winners
Thank you ANN recruiters and welcome
new Academy members! This winter's recruitment drive was so successful, we had
two grand prize winners for recruiting ten or more members: Susan Johnson of San Ramon, California,
recruited 11 nurses, and Marise Alce of Miami,
Florida, recruited 10 members.
Each will receive free registration to the meeting in Washington, DC,
one year of membership, and a free copy of Neonatal Surgical Procedures: A Guide for Care and Management from NICU Ink® Book Publishers. Susan, a founding
member of ANN, will share her prize with her recruits. Way to go, ladies and gentlemen!
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Member Surveys
Academy Connection's One-Minute Educational Benefits Survey Results
Three questions were asked in the
April edition of Academy Connection in an online survey to determine the amount
of educational benefits neonatal nurses receive from their workplace and how
these benefits were generally used. Surprisingly, almost half (48 percent) of
the 236 ANN members who completed the survey do not receive any educational
benefits from their employer. Nineteen percent of the respondents receive
between $100 and $500, 11 percent received between $500 and $1,000, and 15
percent receive more than $1,000. Seven percent received less than $100 for
education. The greatest use of the benefits went to professional membership (83
percent) and online or mail-in CEUs (52 percent). Forty-two percent of the
benefits went to books related to neonatal nursing. Equal numbers of members
spent their benefits on local and distant neonatal conferences (30 and 32
percent, respectively). It is clear from this survey nurses receive few, if any,
educational benefits from their institution. Attending conferences, obtaining
CEUs, and belonging to a professional association should be encouraged by
hospitals, as it is the hospital, patients, and families who benefit. We thank
the ANN members who took a minute to complete this important survey. Please
consider again participating. ANN's One-Minute Educational Benefits Survey,
Part 2, follows. Your responses are valuable!
ANN's One-Minute
Educational Benefits Survey, Part 2
Answers to this survey will help us
determine how much "out-of-pocket" money neonatal nurses spend on education
related to the neonatal profession. Please take a minute to answer two questions. Thank you for
participating.
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Educational Opportunities
"Creating Excellence in the NICU"
The 8th National Neonatal Nurses Meeting sponsored
by the Academy of Neonatal Nursing™ and Neonatal Network® will be held October 8-11, 2008, at the beautiful Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. Many
preconference and conference sessions have been planned, so mark your calendar
today. Click here for
more information.
The
Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN)
AWHONN is
holding their annual conference in Los
Angeles, California,
June 21-25, 2008. The theme this year is "Many Voices, One Mission. For more
information, visit the AWHONN website.
Happy
Birthday to 99nicu!
99nicu is celebrating its first
birthday! This international neonatal web community is the place to go for
questions, conference information, or to just blog or chat with peers.
Membership is free, so sign up today at 99nicu.org.
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Publication & Research Resources
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The Academy Connection and Neonatal Network® have generated over 150 resource links with
access to associations, government and international organizations, resources
for parents, educational sites, journal sites, and more. ANN's Internet
Resources are available here.
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The
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy recently went into
effect to ensure the public has access to the published results of NIH funded
research through the digital archive, PubMed Central. The policy requires
these articles "be accessible to the public to help advance science and improve
human health."
- EurekAlert!
is an online, global, news service operated by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS) and "features news and resources focused on all
areas of science, medicine, and technology." Check it out.
- ScienceDirect,
affiliated with Elsevier Publishing Company and headquartered in Amsterdam has over 8
million article abstracts. Hook up with this journal search engine by going to sciencedirect.com.
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Important
Large Study from the National Institute
of Child Health and Human
Development (NICHD) Neonatal Research Network (NRN)
In the April issue of The New
England Journal of Medicine, the results of a study by Tyson and colleagues (2008) concluded five factors beyond estimated gestational age
provide a more accurate way to estimate infant outcomes. The five factors are: (1)
completed weeks of gestation, (2) birth weight, (3) sex, (4) singleton birth,
and (5) exposure to antenatal steroids. According to the study, when mothers of
female singleton fetuses received corticosteroids shortly before delivery the
effect on the fetus' lungs was equivalent to an extra week of pregnancy. A
website tool is available to allow clinicians to "use our findings in
estimating the likelihood intensive care will benefit individual infants, after
considering the extent to which outcomes in their center might differ from
those we identified."
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Grants, Scholarships, and Awards
The Academy of Neonatal Nursing™
ANN offers
three generous awards: Excellence in Neonatal Nursing Practice Award; The
Academy of Neonatal Nursing Conference Scholarship Award; and The Academy of
Neonatal Nursing Academic Scholarship Award. More information can be found at
academyonline.org. The deadline is June 1, 2008.
Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
The RWJF recently joined with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) to create the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: New Careers in Nursing, a "scholarship program to help alleviate the nursing
shortage and increase the diversity of nursing professionals." Through grants to
nursing schools, programs will provide scholarships to college graduates
without nursing degrees who have been admitted to accelerated BSN and MSN
programs. For more information, click here.
The
Foundation for Neonatal Research and Education (FNRE)
FNRE is a not-for-profit
organization, which offers grants and scholarships for neonatal research and
education. ANN supports the efforts of the FNRE by donating a portion of every
membership. For more information about FNRE click here.
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Health
Volunteers Overseas Golden Apple Award
Academy members Ann Carroll, RNC,
NNP, and Ellen Milan, RNC, were recently awarded with the 2008 Golden Apple Award
from Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO), which recognizes extraordinary
educational contributions in developing countries. The HVO is a private,
nonprofit organization founded in 1986, whose main purpose is "improving
global health through education" of health care professionals. Ellen and
Ann together have dedicated over 1,500 hours to the Special Baby Care Unit at
the Mulago Hospital
in Kampala, Uganda. Congratulations to these
inspiring nurses! For more information about the HVO programs, go to hvousa.org.
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* The Academy of Neonatal Nursing is not responsible for products, programs, or links mentioned in this newsletter. They are provided as a convenience and should not be viewed, in any way, as an endorsement of any particular website, company, product, service, idea, or viewpoint.
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