2020 FNA Book Of Reports

2020 Florida Nurses Association
empowering out members to connect with their local legislators. At the time of this printing. Letters have been
written to the winners from the primary that have been elected to their seats. Candidate interviews will be held
with select candidates with the goal of meeting them while educating them about our issues.
Advocacy Days was extremely successful with great attendance and engagement from nurses and many
nursing students. Participants made out presence known through legislative visits and their presence at a
press conference for the Advanced Practice bill that was passed this past session. FNA has participated in
the meetings related to rule-making and provided legal representation at the first meeting to ensure that we
have an understanding of the process.
Member Services
Provide cutting edge services to members
We have followed the advice of our consultant by enhancing our technology footprint by upgrading our
members management system. Currently, many of our essential administrative functions are managed within
our membership software program. From processing members to communication, program registration and
management to our web presence; these are all managed within our software, yourMembership. There is also
a forum for members to communicate and we will be working hard to engage members to utilize it.
We have been ahead of the curb as we had been using Zoom for many years before
COVID 19 so it was natural for us to transition to ZOOM meetings. We had also
invested in Voice over protocol internet (VOIP) telephones which allowed staff to
quickly transition to working remotely by taking the office phones home. Our goal was
for members to “feel” very little difference whether the staff was in the office rather
than at home.
We employ several other programs to allow us to work effectively from remote
locations as well as at the office when necessary. Kaitlin Scarbary, Director of
Membership and Technology was instrumental in our seamless transition to working
from home.
We continued to hold Zoom meetings, execute our other work, respond to member requests, with little
difficulty. We of course experienced some delays and had to postpone some meetings and conferences, but
overall we have been able to move forward in a “nearly normal” fashion.
We did foray into the world of virtual conferences with our Annual Research and Evidence Based Nursing
Conference. After reviewing several platforms we chose one that seemed to fit our needs. After some practice
sessions with participants, and some great volunteerism from the Research Special Interest Group, our first
virtual conference is behind us. The reviews were largely positive and the participation was excellent.
While COVID-19, delayed or caused us to cancel some activities, for the most part we provided an excellent
array of programming for members. We also added a new continuing education partner Elite Continuing
Education, in addition to our own online learning platform that we are gradually building. We thank our
members who have participated as presenters and planners to help strengthen our programs this year.
Along with the ANA benefits and services, we continue to seek new benefits and experiences for our members.
Nurse Development and Support
Serve as the essential resource for nurses throughout their career
We continue to do outreach to various nursing groups as well as field questions from nurses about workplace
issues as well as career advice. Through our work with QUIN Council we maintain the website http://www.
choosewithcare.education which provides information on choosing a nursing program. We also speak with
nurses and parents about nursing careers.
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