News

Please consider nominating a colleague for the Mary Fran Tracy Award of Excellence! The deadline to nominate is July 30th, just 3 days away! Instructions on how to nominate can be found under opportunities -> MFT Award of Excellence

Call for Poster Abstracts Annual Conference

Reconnecting and Revitalizing CNSs in 2021  

Friday, October 1, 2021 

Virtual Conference 

The purpose of the poster session is to promote the CNS/CNS student colleagues in  highlighting professional accomplishments and revitalization of CNSs through their role  in healthcare. Posters may address any aspect of the CNS Spheres of Impact: Patient  Direct Care, Nursing & Nursing Practice, and Organizations & Systems (NACNS, 2019).  Poster content may focus on research, evidence-based practice, quality improvement,  professional practice, and/or reflect literature reviews/syntheses or implementation. 

Criteria for Posters: 

• Title, author(s) 

• Problem/Issue 

• Significance/Background/Rationale 

• Methods 

• CNS role description 

• Results/Conclusions 

• Implications for practice 

Abstract no more than 300 words. 

Abstraction submissions are due by Friday, August 3, 2021, by 1800 to aloth@winona.edu.  

The planning committee will review all received abstracts to ensure criteria have been  met. Abstract authors will be contacted by August 23 if their abstract has been accepted to  the conference via an email outlining the requirements for poster completion and  submission due by Friday, September 10, 2021, at 1800.  

Conference attendees will review viewable posters and vote to identify First, Second, and  Third Place for Posters. The Top Three Poster authors will be notified on Monday,  September 27, 2021, and present during the Virtual Conference on October 1, 2021.  

For more information, contact:  

Ann Loth, DNP, APRN, ACNS-BC Anna Bird, APRN, MS, ACNS-BC aloth@winona.eduanna.bird@essentiahealth.org

Minnesota NACNS chapter would like to wish all CNSs a very Happy Nurse’s week!!

Our heartfelt thanks to each of you for the leadership you’ve shown this past year. Your commitment to excellence in supporting patient care and the nurses you work with is so appreciated. We are better together!

The 2020 CNS Census results are in!

The NACNS started collecting national-level data on the clinical nurse specialist in 2014. They have successfully completed three surveys:  2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020. As an Affiliate, we encourage participating in the national survey and we are excited to share the 2020 results!

Please visit the following link to the NACNS website for the 2020 results: https://nacns.org/professional-resources/practice-and-cns-role/cns-census/

Do you know of or work with a CNS who exemplifies excellence in nursing practice and leadership? Someone who has demonstrated excellence and serves as a role model in the 3 spheres of impact? If so, consider nominating him or her for the MN NACNS Mary Fran Tracy Award of Excellence!  

Follow this link more information about the award and the nomination process: http://www.mnnacns.org/MFT-Leadership-Award

Thank you Penny Messner, APRN, CNS, DNP for serving as the 2020 President on the MN NACNS Board of Directors and welcome her to her new role on the MN NACNS Board of Directors as the Immediate Past President. Penny, a cardiovascular CNS at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, has focused on improving pain management for the cardiovascular surgery patient, reducing hospital length of stay, anticoagulation management, improving venous thromboembolism prevention, and anticoagulation management to name a few. Over the years she has served as a preceptor and mentor to several of her CNS colleagues. Penny has provided great leadership to help the MN NACNS overcome many challenges the MN NACNS faced during the COVID-19 Pandemic to continue to move the MN NACNS forward. Thank you Penny for your dedication to the MN NACNS!

We would like to share great gratitude to Shamsah Rehmatullah, MS, RN, ACNS-BC, for her service on the MN NACNS Board of Directors over the last 3 years. Shamsah, a Med/Surg Clinical Nurse Specialist at The University of Minnesota Medical Center, has focused on preventing delirium, falls prevention, sepsis management, early recovery after surgery, and reducing length of stay to name a few. Shamsah is also an Affiliate Faculty at University of Minnesota school of Nursing and has been a preceptor for graduating students from the University of Minnesota and Winona. Shamsah has contributed greatly to the MN NACNS through her years of service and we are very thankful she volunteered much of her time over the last 3 years to the MN NACNS. Thank you, Shamsah! We appreciate you and will miss you serving on the MN NACNS Board!

The MN NACNS would like to express a huge thank you to Kelly Derby, MS, APRN, CNS, for her service as the 2019 and 2020 Secretary on the MN NACNS Board of Directors. Kelly, a CNS at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, who focuses on Orthopedics and WOCN, has volunteered much of her time to the MN NACNS though participating in planning committees prior to becoming secretary. As secretary, Kelly has helped the MN NACNS stay organized and on track through the many unpredicted challenges in 2020. Thank you, Kelly! We appreciate you and will miss you serving on the MN NACNS Board!

The MN NACNS would like to share a HUGE thank you to Benjamin Hickox for his contributions over the last few years!! Benjamin Hickox, DNP, APRN, AGCNS-BC is an Adult and Gerontological Clinical Nurse Specialist that supports the Primary Care practice at Mayo Clinic in Southeast Minnesota. He has been a Registered Nurse for over fifteen years. He completed the Doctor of Nursing Practice program, AGCNS track at the University of Minnesota in 2018 and it was during his time as the student representative for MN NACNS that he assisted in identifying a need to move beyond a website to a contact management platform, assisted in selecting the specific platform, and transitioning from a website to this new platform. His one-year commitment as a student representative evolved into a three-year commitment as “webmaster”. Ben learned a great deal in this role…though still doesn’t necessarily consider himself a master of the web. He also assisted in planning and implementing the first-ever video Fall MN NACNS Conference, complete with evaluating and purchasing a Zoom license for MN NACNS and learning how to interface Wild Apricot (the contact management platform) with Zoom, for registration and conference attendance. Ben greatly valued working with an amazing team of fellow CNSs from across the state. He is excited to see others now take on the role of webmaster and explore the full functionality of Wild Apricot and Zoom. We greatly appreciate all that you have done for the MN NACNS! We will miss you!

The MN NACNS welcomes Lina Vogel, APRN, CNS to the Secretary position on the MN NACNS Board of Directors. Linda, a Critical Care CNS at Essentia Health in Duluth, MN, is the Trauma Program Manager for Essentia Health’s Level 1 Adult Trauma and oversees their Level 2 Pediatric Trauma Program. Linda is also not new to the MN NACNS, she has previously volunteered her time serving on MN NACNS planning committees. Thank you, Linda, for your previous contributions to the MN NACNS and welcome to the Board of Directors as the 2021 and 2022 Secretary. We are excited to have you as a part of the MN NACNS Board the next 2 years!