Daily Convention HighlightsWednesday, 7 November 2007 Highlights
Wednesday marked the last day in office for Nancy Dickenson-Hazard (right), who has served as honor society chief executive officer since 1993. Patricia Thompson (left) begins her tenure as chief executive officer on 8 November. President Carol Picard also closed her service as president since November 2005, and Carol Huston assumes the president's role on 8 November.
The honor society's House of Delegates met to elect members of the board of directors and other standing committees, vote on the approval of petitioning honor societies for chapter chartering and vote on proposed bylaws amendments.
Tuesday, 6 November 2007 Highlights
 Chapter Awards
On Tuesday, chapter success and excellence was honored at the Chapter Awards Event. At this event, chapters that have made contributions to the honor society's future and that have created outstanding newsletters, archives and research programs were acknowledged and celebrated. Awards included The Chapter Communications Award, the Presidential Commendation Award and many more.
Melanie C. Dreher Outstanding Dean Award
At the Closing Plenary Session, Dr. Melanie C. Dreher, Dean of the College of Nursing of Rush University, presented the award named in her honor: the Melanie C. Dreher Outstanding Dean Award for Excellence in Chapter Support. This award recognizes a nursing program administrator who actively supports honor society chapter activities. This year's award recipient was Jeanette Lancaster, RN, PhD, FAAN Dean of the School of Nursing, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Vision 2020 Forums
The honor society's leadership has outlined a 13-year strategic plan entitled Vision 2020 that supports the organization's mission of creating a global community of nurses to improve health. Several sessions were held during the convention to education attendees on how this plan will affect the honor society's future.
Monday, 5 November 2007 Highlights
 The Episteme Award
The Baxter International Foundation’s Episteme Award presentation, sponsored by The Baxter International Foundation, acknowledges a major break-through in nursing knowledge development that has resulted in a significant and recognizable benefit to the public. In the tradition of the Nobel Prize, The Episteme Award is presented to a person or team for highly significant research. The Episteme Award recipient this year is Dr. Loretta Sweet Jemmott PhD, RN, FAAN.
Tribute Awards Event
The honor society presented more than 20 awards on Monday afternoon to members in recognition of their exceptional contributions to the science and profession of nursing, particularly in the areas of scientific research, scholarship, technology and art. Awards included the Clinical Scholarship Award, the International Research award and others.
Celebration of Leadership Reception
All convention-goers were invited to this Board-hosted reception to thank Nancy Dickenson-Hazard for her 14 hears as CEO. A brief program included the announcement of the total inaugural donations made to the Nancy Dickenson-Hazard Leadership Scholar-in-Residence Fund, which totaled over US $150,000.00. Additionally, those attending the reception had the opportunity to welcome and congratulate Pat Thompson, the society’s next CEO.
Sunday, 4 November 2007 Highlights
The Nell. J. Watts Lifetime Achievement in Nursing Award, which recognizes a member for lifetime dedication to the nursing profession and to the honor society, was awarded to Dr. Billye J. Brown. Dr. Brown has been at the forefront of nursing for more than 30 years and is internationally recognized as a leader in education and administration. Brown is professor emeritus and former dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Texas, Austin. She is a past honor society president, has been a chartering officer of many chapters, and she was instrumental in an $8 million fundraising campaign for the honor society.
The Archon Award is bestowed each biennium by the honor society to an individual who has shown exceptional leadership in advancing the health and welfare of people throughout the world. The 2007 Archon Award is presented to Her Royal Highness (HRH) Princess Muna Al Hussein. Her Royal Highness’s accomplishments include a national Nursing Council to oversee all government, military and private nursing practices and a multi-university affiliation that has established 13 nursing baccalaureate programs, seven master programs and one doctoral program at a total of 13 universities hosting more than 70 PhDs in the field of nursing.
The Lucie S. Kelly Mentor Award is presented in recognition of the influence counselors or guides in the nursing profession have on the lives and careers of others. This biennium's award was presented to Rev. Emily Chandler. Rev. Chandler has been committed to the blending of spirituality, well-being and health and has mentored many nurses, ministers and students, encouraging them to be their best in compassion and to take risks with courage. She has served as a mentor to President Picard at nearly every turn of her professional career, and President Picard says she has learned everything about how to engage patients, students or a professional audience from watching the Rev. Emily Chandler at work.
The Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals whose good works have enhanced the human condition globally. This biennium’s recipient is Stephen H. Lewis. Mr. Lewis is a Professor in Global Health, Faculty of Social Sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He is co-Director of AIDS-Free World, a new international AIDS advocacy organization based in the United States, and he is the chair of the board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation in Canada, which helps to ease the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa by funding grassroots projects that help individuals, families and communities ravaged by the pandemic.
Founders Awards Celebration The honor society awarded the highest member and chapter honors it confers at the Founders Awards Celebration. The Founders Awards commemorate the six founders of the honor society and the founder of the School of Nursing at Indiana University, where the society was chartered in 1922. The awards symbolize the qualities of scholarship, research, practice and leadership excellence that inspired the founders’ vision for the society.
The Marie Hippensteel Lingeman Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice was presented to Linda Laskowski Jones, RN, MS, APRN, BC, CCRN, CEN
The Dorothy Garrigus Adams Award for Fostering Professional Standards was presented to Jeanne M. Floyd, RN, PhD, CAE
The Mary Tolle Wright Award for Excellence in Leadership was presented to Leana R. Uys, CSocSc
The Edith Moore Copeland Award for Excellence in Creativity was presented to Sarah H. Gueldner, RN, DSN, FAAN
The Elizabeth McWilliams Miller Award For Excellence in Research was presented to Joyce A. Verran, RN, PhD, FAAN
The Elizabeth Russell Belford Award for Excellence in Education was presented to Mary Anne Dumas, RN, PhD, CFNP, FAANP
The Ethel Palmer Clarke Award for Excellence in Chapter Programming was presented to Pi Pi Chapter, Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing, Quincy, Illinois, USA
The honor society would like to thank the Founders Awards Celebration sponsors, including The Johns Hopkins Hospital and The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (Double Platinum Sponsors).
The Dorothy Ford Buschmann Presidential Awards are bestowed by the honor society president for distinguished service to the honor society. This biennium’s first recipient is Tau Pi Chapter, Southern University and A&M College, School of Nursing, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. Tau Pi members and faculty rallied together to provide desperately needed health care services to shelter residents who had recently evacuated from New Orleans and other flood devastated areas. This biennium’s second recipient is Tau Lambda-at-Large Chapter, African Honour Society for Nurses. Tau Lambda-at-Large is recognized for its unique model that involves multiple schools of nursing at African Universities known as sub-chapters in multiple countries and is governed by a Board of Directors based in different countries.
The Audrey Hepburn Award for the Contributions to the Health and Welfare of Children is presented to a nurse who has made significant contributions to the health and well-being of children, and this biennium's recipient is Dr. Mary Byrne. Dr. Byrne is the Stone-Fish Professor for Clinical Health Care of the Underserved at Columbia University. Instrumental in developing the foundation for her School’s research success, her own program of research has been repeatedly funded by the National Institutes of Health and others to study with vulnerable populations ways to improve their lives in situations including: HIV sero-reverter infants, children raised in prison, children receiving primary care in low-income neighborhoods and seriously ill children.
Saturday, 3 November 2007 Highlights
Saturday was an action-packed day at convention, kicked off with a Nursing Knowledge & Technology Pre-Conference. The focus of this half-day program was to help nurses in practice, administration and education understand and advance the use of all forms of health information technology. Sessions addressed current and emerging technologies, challenges associated with acquiring and implementing technology, application of devices for care and simulation learning. The honor society would like to thank the sponsors, which included CPM Resource Center (also a Triple Platinum convention sponsor) and McKesson Provider Technologies, our premiere sponsor, as well as the contributing sponsors, which included Cerner Corporation, Siemens Medical Solutions - Health Services and Zynx Health.
Opening Plenary Keynote Address
The opening plenary session featured Anne Ryder, award-winning TV anchor and columnist. Ryder shared moments from her 1997 interview with Mother Teresa—the only interview Mother Teresa had granted to an American reporter in more than a decade and, ultimately, the last one she gave prior to her death. Ryder shared her phenomenal experience and disclosed the principles Mother Teresa abided by to serve the poor without becoming personally overwhelmed: the power of silence, using active gratitude and turning difficult situations into positive outcomes.
International Inductions
The honor society inducted several outstanding leaders in world health as honorary members, followed by a reception at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Newly inducted honorary members include: Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, president and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); David B. Cooper, RN, practitioner, editor, manager, researcher, lecturer and consultant on the care of people with addictions; Paul E. Farmer, MD, PhD, medical anthropology and a founding director of Partners In Health; Barry La Forgia, BS, MA, MBA, JD, founder/executive director of International Relief Teams (IRT); Kathleen F. Norr, PhD, professor, Maternal-Child Nursing Department, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago; and David L. Olds, PhD, professor of pediatrics, psychiatry, nursing and preventive medicine, University of Colorado; and Roy L. Simpson, RN, C, FNAP, FAAN, Vice President of Nursing at Cerner Corporation.
Innovations in Clinical Excellence Evidence-Based Practice Awards
Honor society CEO Nancy Dickenson-Hazard, President Carol Picard, RN, PhD, and Judith Mitiguy, Nursing Spectrum Editor in Chief, presented the Innovations in Clinical Excellence Evidence-Based Practice Contest Awards, co-sponsored by the honor society and Nursing Spectrum. The award recognizes projects that integrate current best evidence with clinical expertise to guide clinical nursing practice. The award recipients were:
Diane E. White, associate professor at Georgia Baptist College of Nursing of Mercer University, Decreasing Sepsis Mortality through International Evidence-Based Practice Collaboration
Sheila A. Havey, BScN, Renfrew Victoria Hospital; Maureen A. Sly-Havey, RN, MSN; Algonquin College and University of Ottawa; Connie Legg, RN, palliative supportive care coordinator, Renfrew Victoria Hospital, Implementing Pain Best Practice through Empowerment
Dana Kocsis, MSN, director of nursing/patient services in cardiovascular telemetry, Akron General Medical Center; Caroline Miksch, senior, Kent State University College of Nursing, Patient Rounding: A Prescription for Satisfaction
Mary Lu Daly, MS, RN, clinical nurse specialist, Rochester General Hospital
Cecilia Blankson-Oduro, SRN, CMB, FPSP, executive director, Life Relief Foundation, HIV/AIDS Pandemic: Community-Based Home Care
Deborah A. Raines, PhD, RN, professor, Florida Atlantic University, Preceptor as Connoisseur and Catalyst: An evidence based standard for Nurse Preceptors
Friday, 2 November 2007 Highlights
Igniting Evidence-Based Practice in Clinical Settings: Basics & Beyond - Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, CPNP, NPP, FAAN and L. Ellen Fineout-Overholt, PhD, RN, led this day-long, sold-out workshop. This event provided participants with the opportunity to build knowledge and skills essential for implementing evidence-based practice (EBP). An overview of the five steps of the EBP process was presented, and emphasis was placed on motivating change toward a best practice culture through EBP.
 Be Prepared: What Nurses Need to Know About Disaster Response - Participants of the pre-conference "Be Prepared: What Nurses Need to Know About Disaster Response" learned how to become leaders in disaster preparedness and response and the scope of national efforts to develop comprehensive preparedness plans. Presenters provided a wealth of resources to develop disaster preparedness plans and emergency response competencies for nurses. Speakers included Betsy Weiner, PhD, RN, BC, FAAN, Nursing Emergency Preparedness Education Coalition; Capt. Lynn A. Slepski, RN, MSN, CCNS, Department of Homeland Security; Cheryl Peterson, RN, MSN, American Nurses Association; Sally Phillips , RN, PhD, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; and Jean Johnson, PhD, FAAN, George Washington University.
Be Presentation of 2007 Nurse Heroes Awards Nurses recognized 10 of their own heroes at this special event. The award recipients were nurses who saved or attempted to save a life under adverse conditions that were not a part of their work duties.
"The nurses we recognize today represent some of the best that nursing has to offer," says Cynthia Vlasich, RN, vice president, professional services and advertising, Nursing Spectrum/NurseWeek, publications of Gannett Healthcare Group. "These nurses put aside their own safety and comfort, many risking their very lives to save the lives of others. Their selfless sacrifice demands that we pause to honor them and celebrate the profession that supports them."
Award recipients included Captain Betty Bennett, PhD(c), RN, CCRN, CEN; Lynne Burns, RN; Barbara Chamberlain, RN, DNSc; Ursula Goodine, RN; Lisa Levine, RN; LaVonne Lea Lewis, PhD, RN; Paul David Meek, RN, BSN, BEd, CEN, CLNC; Janet S. Rami, RN, PhD; Shonna Robinson, RN, LP; and Ruth Rucker, RN.
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