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Nationai Association of PediaWiic Nurse Associates & Practitioners NAPNAPUPDATE Deborah Coody, MSN, RN, CPNP U. of T. , Department of Pediatrics Houston, TX 15th Annual Conference a n Record Breaker . n 1994 ELECTION RESULTS The winners of the 1994 NAPNAP election are Ardys Dunn-President-Elect Chris Kucinkas-Treasurer Sandra Elvik-Member- ship/Chapters’ Coordinator Barbara Kelley-Nominations Committee Thank you to all who ran for office, and congratulations to those who won! ties of the struggles and successes encountered by their colleagues across the country. The diverse role of the PNP in 1994 was exempli- fied by five PNPs, who described their job settings-a private pedi- atric practice, a nurse-run center, a business enterprise, a state health department, and an in-patient sur- gical service. CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS The 1994 annual NAPNAP conference had the largest number of registrants to date! About 950 attended (849 NAPNAP mem- bers) the 15th annual conference held in Chicago, April 7-lo-over 120 more than attended any pre- vious conference. Forty-six states were represented, including Alaska and Hawaii. For 4 days these nurse practitioners (NPs), nurses, and other health professionals learned new things, networked with col- leagues, and had fun together. As the theme proposed, most left “Soaring Ahead for Child Health . . .” prepared for the “ . . . changes, choices (and) chal- lenges” of health care reform. JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC HEALTH CARE/July-August 1994 The Opening Session, “Pediat- ric Nurse Practitioners: Emerg- ing /Advanced Roles” highlighted how the role of the pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) has evolved and expanded and drew applause as the audience recognized the similari- Barbara Writ, Associate Dean at Yale Law School, delivered the keynote address-“PNPs and Health Care Reform: Improving Access to Health Care for All Our Nation’s Children.” She gave a his- torical perspective on “illness care” as an entitlement and on how the states’ all-inclusive medical practice acts have given medicine a monop- oly over illness care. She outlined universality, cost control, and health promotion as some of the key issues wanted in any new health care plan and listed the cultural, le- gal, and professional barriers that make it difficult for NPs to provide care in the current (and future) sys- tem. Dean Safrit urged NPs to communicate with their legisla- tors-locally, statewide, and na- tionally-and tell them how a par- ticular patient/PNP encounter in their practice setting benefits a child and family. Throughout the 4-day confer- ence, more than 40 educational ses- sions were offered, including up- dates on antibiotics, lead poison- ing, infectious disease, sports medicine, violence as a public health problem, positive discipline techniques, total quality manage- ment, reading x-rays, and many more. In high demand were the four intensive “hands-on” sessions. Some preregistered conference at- tendees had the opportunity to re- view gram staining and other mi- croscopic procedures in the clinical laboratory session at the University of Illinois at Chicago, to learn heal- ing touch, to have their manu- scripts reviewed by the JOURNAL OFPEDIATRICHEALTHCARE ed- itorial staff, and to assess otitis me- dia using a variety of examination techniques. Time was available for network- ing at the focus/special interest group meetings, at the roundtable discussions, and all over the hotel for that matter. Time to learn about what NAPNAP is doing was avail- able through the meet the candi- dates, business meeting, and stra- tegic plan review sessions. The Awards breakfast highlighted re- cent outstanding PNPs and recent industry support. In addition, the Chapter Presidents had 2 days of meetings to hear the latest chapter news. Over 70 vendors displayed their newest products and were available for consultation in the Exhibit Hall for 3 days. An added attraction to the Exhibit Hall this year was the NAPNAP Cafe, which gave every- one a chance to catch a quick salad or sandwich while browsing at the Exhibits and before running off to 19A
