The Montana Pulse - August 2019

August, September, October 2019 Montana Nurses Association Pulse Page 7
ANA Quality & Innovation Conference
Hope Sukut, District 3 – Attending the ANA
conference in Florida was a definite high point in
my short nursing career. Having newly graduated
last spring, I didn’t know what to expect from a
nursing conference. The facility was fantastic, the
weather in Orlando was sublime and the conference
was informative and inspirational. I gained insight,
reignited motivation and made new friends at the
three-day event showcasing the latest trends and
technology in nursing. Particularly helpful to me were
the general sessions and a workshop highlighting
teamwork between physicians and nurses. It’s
encouraging to hear what other nurses have
accomplished for themselves and their facilities when
they are willing to take risks to implement new ideas
and work hard to improve outcomes for patients.
I am so thankful that MNA made the investment
to send me to this conference. I will attend more
conferences in the future because of this experience.
Holly Gumz, District 1 – Because of the
Montana Nurse’s Association, I was one of 10
attendees at this year’s ANA Quality and Innovation
Conference in Orlando, Florida. Participants were
offered a multitude of educational opportunities that
piqued the interests of bedside nurses, including
clinical nurse leaders and administrators. As an
RN with less than three years’ experience, my
goal in attending this year was to learn about new
technologies to enhance patient outcomes in rural
healthcare environments, including unique strategies
to attract and retain nursing staff, specifically newgraduate
nurses.
This conference shed light on multiple driving
forces influencing quality and innovation in
healthcare. One factor permitting hospitals to meet
core measures, allow for creativity in problem solving
and achieve a high level of nurse satisfaction is when
collaboration takes place between nurses, medical
providers and administrators.
Collaboration amongst care providers reinforces
nursing insight and experience by including their
thoughts and ideas into the decision-making
process. This affects many aspects of care:
the policies guiding our practice, the diagnostic
equipment used to assess the patient and our
ability to build rapport at the bedside with patients
and family. Applying these and other conference
discussions to unique Montana healthcare
environments has the potential to overcome retention
challenges and improve patient outcomes.
Tristan Ulmer, District 4 – Thank you very
much for the opportunity to attend the ANA Quality
Conference in Florida. The conference was very
motivating and encouraged us, as nurses, to grow
and not just be ready and flexible to change, but to
be the ones who lead the change in providing better
healthcare. We have the ability to build up other
nurses and create a more positive and cohesive work
environment. The conference talked about the voice
we have as a nurse, that our voice matters and that
we can empower one another to use our voices,
appropriately and professionally, to create more
nurse leaders. We need to guide new nurses to not
just be good, but to be the best nurse they can be.
Thank you again, I really appreciate the educational
opportunity and needed the encouragement.
Randy Parker,
District 1 – The girls
at work asked me how
I was picked to attend
the ANA Quality and
Innovation Conference
in Orlando, FL. I simply
stated, “I always look
at my E-Mail from
the MNA.” I read the
email, filled out the
questionnaire, and was
chosen to attend this
wonderful conference.
The MNA booked the
airfare and hotel for me
and several nurses across Montana. They even had
us registered for the conference. How easy is that?
Now I could go on for days about all the different
presentations but I am not allowed so many words.
“Be The Spark” with
Simon T. Bailey
Simon will get a
crowd fired up and
excited to be part of
the experience. He
spoke about failure
and success. Did
you know that failure
comes before success
in the dictionary? Are
you willing to admit
your failures so that
others may learn?
Do we admit our
failures to ourselves
and realize it is not the end, but an opportunity to
improve ourselves? When is the last time you looked
at yourself and did any sort of evaluation? Better yet,
are you willing to ask people close to you “What do
I need to work on”? We may not like the answers
we are given but are we willing to listen and improve
ourselves so that we may better serve others?
“Patient as CEO” by Robin Farmanfarmaian
Robin spoke about the shifts in healthcare
and how to diagnose, treatment and access to
direct patient care is changing and needs to make
changes in this world we live in. Now there will
always be a need for Emergency rooms and family
doctors, but what if people started being the CEO
of their healthcare? Robin has dealt with major
health issues since she was in her twenties but no
doctor once said: “Robin with the rapid advances
in health care let’s hold off doing surgery and wait
on technology.” If they would have held out for
advances in medicine she may still have three major
organs. In Montana, we lack the resources that the
bigger cities have when it comes to just ordering up
a nurse or other specialties to come to the home. I
have to agree with Robin in the sense that most of
us do not think outside the box when it comes to
healthcare and how we can take more control over
where or how we are treated for medical conditions.
The average patient rarely questions their doctor on
recommended treatments or gets a second opinion.
Robin is asking for people to take control of their lives
and not just settle for one person's opinion that may
affect the rest of your life.
I want to thank Vicky and everyone at the MNA
who helped me get to this conference. It was a blast
and I look forward to sharing everything I learned
with my co-workers!!
JOIN OUR NURSING FACULTY
City College at MSU Billings seeks:
• Full-time Mental Health and
Management Faculty or
• Part-time Mental Health and
Management Faculty and
• Clinical Resource Registered Nurses
to oversee students in clinical sites.
Contact me for more information: Susan Floyd,
Director of Nursing, MSU – Billings City College
sfloyd@msubillings.edu | (406) 247-3073