2015 WY ANNUAL CONVENTION YEARBOOK

2015 Wyoming Nurses Association
ANA Membership Assembly
Dee Gilson, WNA President-Elect
During the week of July 22-26, 2015 I started my first orientation and integration into the ANA Membership
Assembly in Washington, D.C. Representatives throughout the nation gathered to work on ANA nursing policy,
by-laws and started dialogue on issues as “Fostering an Ethical Environment and Culture;” “Infection Prevention
and Control Issues in the United States;” and “Public Reporting Advancing Patient Safety and Quality.”
Dialogue and recommendations came out of the discussions and forums on these issues being addressed this year.
Anne Raga, WNA President and I teamed up to make sure we attended all forums so Wyoming had a voice in
development and recommendations given to the ANA board on what we need to work on next year and the
support we all need from ANA to assist on these very important issues.
In attending the Infection Control Forum the themes were:
• Increased globalization has resulted in a real threat and ongoing threat of the spread of existing and emerging
infectious diseases. (Ebola and Reducing Healthcare Acquired Infections).
• Despite all we know, effective infection control prevention and control practices, both individual and
organizational, are not consistently employed in healthcare settings. This presents a significant opportunity to
identify and eliminate barriers to best infection control practices.
Through recommendations from the participants ANA Reference Committee was able to recommend and support:
1. Engaging with internal and external stakeholders to provide ongoing and “just-in-time” education
about infection control and prevention and disaster response.
2. Support Constituent/State Nurses Associations efforts to communicate, both internally and externally,
during crisis situations.
3. Identify and disseminate innovative strategies to engage nurses in broad infection protection and
disaster preparedness activities.
All in all I was able to gain experience and participate on how nursing policy is done at the national level.
The WNA delegation was very successful in meeting and getting support from “all” of our representatives in
the Senate and House of Representatives. This shows the relationship and respect they have for nursing and
healthcare. I was able to get a great understanding on how ANA strategically and actively works on issues and
healthcare concerns throughout the nation.
Lastly, We were able to recommend and revise by-laws that will affect the structure of the Membership Assembly
and new “Leadership Council” to provide the education needed to new presidents and participants. The final day
was closed with the newly elected officers for ANA being announced and a review of all our work for the week at
Membership Assembly.
I will keep the WNA board updated with events and we will get this information out to all our nurses through
our web and meetings.
Thanks for the opportunity to serve all of WNA and Wyoming Nurses at such a significant event for nursing in
the nation. Wyoming does have a voice that matters.
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