VNA Voice  

February 27, 2012

Virginia Action Coalition's Leadership Workgroup

Nurses Involvement on Boards

The Virginia Action Coalition's Leadership Workgroup (VACLW) is aggressively working to identify nurses who are serving on local, statewide and national Boards and/or have the desire to serve on a Board. The Workgroup would appreciate your participation in a short survey regarding your current and potential future involvement on Boards and/or organization's Board of Directors. It will take about 5 minutes to complete the survey. A response by March 1, 2012 would be appreciated.

Click here for Survey

A Board, as the Workgroup defines it, may range from the Board of Directors of a local free clinic or chapter of your professional association, to a county health commission, to a statewide Board like the Board of Nursing or the VNA and beyond. The Board/organization does not need to be health-related.

We will use the information gathered to help us understand how:

• Virginia nurses are involved as leaders in their community today
• Virginia nurses might like to serve as leaders through Board membership
• To best support Virginia nurses interested in Board leadership at various levels
• To help Virginia nurses become more engaged in decision-making related to health reform

The Workgroup's efforts and this survey relate directly to the Institute of Medicine/Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation's report

The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health and the RWJ Foundation's "Nursing Leadership - From Bedside to Boardroom" initiative, which recognizes that nurses need to be more involved in healthcare decision-making at the community level and beyond as healthcare changes with the passage and implementation of health reform.

It is critical that nurses, as key members of the healthcare team, make their voices heard and have a greater influence in healthcare planning, policy and management at all levels. Board involvement is one way to increase nursing's influence in healthcare and the broader community.

Forty Years of Improving Health and Health Care

Throughout 2012, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Will Mark Its 40th Anniversary with Snapshots of Its "Force Multipliers"
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is marking 40 years of improving health and health care this year. We are commemorating this anniversary through a campaign which salutes programs and initiatives supported by the Foundation that have helped to revolutionize health and health care in America.

To kick off the Force Multiplier series, we are pleased to salute RWJF's founder and namesake, Robert Wood Johnson-a visionary who put patients first and applied his vast business expertise and later his personal fortune to efforts to reform and improve the nation's health care system.

The second Force Multiplier is Acadian Ambulance, once a two-car ambulance service in Lafayette, La. With the first of a series of grants from RWJF to connect first responders, Acadian was on the leading edge of the work to create the 911 network we all depend on today. 

In coming weeks, check here to see other RWJF Force Multipliers, highlighting our best work over four decades of philanthropy. We're pleased to present these snapshots from our history in short, engaging nuggets.

• Learn more about RWJF's 40th anniversary Force Multiplier campaign.
• Read about Robert Wood Johnson.
• Read about Acadian Ambulance.

2012 Virginia Healthcare Innovators Awards

FINAL CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

The 2012 Virginia Healthcare Innovators Awards honors Virginia providers and organizations/entities that have developed innovative ways to improve quality and/or efficiency. This year, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce will host the awards event at its Virginia Health Care Conference on

June 7, 2012.

Awards will be given to organizations/entities that have developed breakthrough

products, processes or services with the potential to revolutionize healthcare in Virginia.

This leadership, demonstrated through excellence in innovation, will be judged in each of

the following categories:

Healthcare Innovator of the Year

• Patient Care: For organizations/entities that either furnish patient care services directly (e.g., hospitals, physician groups, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical diagnostic laboratories, etc.) or that support the provision of direct patient care services (e.g., clinical research organizations, quality improvement organizations, etc.).
• Medical Product or Device: For organizations/entities involved in the development, manufacture or distribution of medical products or devices (e.g.,pharmaceuticals, biologicals, medical devices, etc.).
• Health Information Technology: For organizations/entities involved in the development, distribution or implementation of health information technology (e.g., clinical information systems, electronic health records, telehealth, etc.).
• Employee Health: For organizations/entities that have implemented innovative ways to improve the health of their covered employees and dependents through patient education and behavior modification, and worked to effect the delivery of care to improve access, quality and/or outcomes (e.g., employer health programs, employee assistance programs, etc.).

As an integral part of Virginia's healthcare community, please consider nominating Virginia healthcare organizations/entities you feel would be good candidates for recognition in any of the award categories listed above. Self-nominations are also permitted.

Nominations are now underway, and will be accepted via an online form,

which can be found at www.virginiahealthcareinnovators.org

The deadline for submissions is March 2, 2012