AAACN 42nd Annual Conference Update Attendees: Julie Alban – Sarah Espin - Eileen Farrell Amy Fulwood - Perry Gamble – Jack Krystyn Jane Mazzeo – Dennis McNally - Shelia Stacks Pamela Vollmer - Johnnetta Wider Eleven of us were fortunate to be able to attend this year’s AAACN Conference in New Orleans. We would like to take a few minutes to share this experience with you all today.

Attendance at the VA SIG concurrent session numbered over 110 VA Ambulatory Care Nurses and Active Duty Military Personnel. Our topic for this interactive discussion was “my VA Access” Participants were given post-it notes and asked to jot down ways in which they were improving access to care for our Veterans.

Our membership has grown from 190 in 2015 to close to 400 members presently…as you can see by this map nearly every state is represented!

Photo Booth Actually this photo was taken as we were leaving the conference after some very busy days!

Photo Booth NFSG “Team VA” in NOLA Here we are in the lecture hall after our VA SIG presentation…minus Jack and Perry….camera shy! NFSG “Team VA” in NOLA

VA SIG Information Table Photo Booth These photos were taken at our VA Special Interest Group information table in the Vendor Exhibit hall. Jack and Eileen were among our group who manned the table to encourage VA nurses to join the VA SIG. VA SIG Information Table

Photo Booth Proud Poster Presenters – Sharing Strong Work! Pam and Johnnetta sharing the PACT Nursing Orientation binder and highlighting the “Resource Manual” section! VA nurses from several areas around the country have emailed them requesting copies of this tool. Shelia Stacks is explaining the PCAS Tool to interested nurses. Proud Poster Presenters – Sharing Strong Work!

Photo Booth Proud Poster Presenters – Sharing Strong Work! Amy Fulwood and Julie Alban manning their poster on the role of the RN Care Manager – and of course on the right are Eileen and Julie bragging about all of their shining star PACT Nurses!! Proud Poster Presenters – Sharing Strong Work! Networking by the Best!

Proud Poster Presenter – Sharing Strong Work! Photo Booth Here is CJ Mazzeo, PACT CC at TVOPC explaining the PCAS Tool to attendees. “the CAN score is right here…” Proud Poster Presenter – Sharing Strong Work!

Tour of VAMC & Clinics Julie arranged and coordinated a tour of the new NOLA VAMC & Clinics on the first day of the conference. We felt right at home…the VA Shuttle Bus even picked us up at the hotel! This facility was quite impressive – the ambulatory care clinics were set up with group charting areas for providers and LPN’s. The RN Care Managers had a separate central charting/phone communication area.

VA SIG Members at the NOLA VAMC & Clinics Photo Booth VA SIG Members at the NOLA VAMC & Clinics

Poster Presentations Pam’s first poster presentation at a national conference!

Poster Presentations Eileen Farrell’s poster on the 300-Day Report.

Poster Presentations The PCAS training program and implementation process was very well received by our fellow VA nurses. In fact, we are providing a training session via Lync for PACT nurses from the Eastern Colorado VA Health Care System in Denver on Tuesday June 13th. If any of you want to join us to offer tips for success with PCAS, you are most welcome!

Poster Presentations Amy provided some impressive data on the care coordination of the top 10% of our PACT panels.

Podium Presentation The objective of this presentation was to share the work and success of our teams on improving access to care for the Veteran populations that we serve. The My VA Access Conceptual View was used as a tool to prompt everyone to share their strong work in implementing this initiative! post-it notes were provided for jotting down daily work that relates to the corresponding spoke on this wheel. We asked for volunteers to place those notes on the wheel and share with the group.

Podium Presentation As you can see by this photo…quite a few ideas were shared

Take Home Highlights Each conference attendee will comment on the following items: What do you plan to change in your practice as a result of attending the AAACN 42nd Annual Conference? What information from the AAACN 42nd Annual Conference do you plan to share with a professional colleague? What did you value most about the AAACN 42nd Annual Conference? Eileen – Jack – Johnnetta – Pam – Sarah will each take three minutes to comment on these items.

Attention All Nurses: Save the Date… Please join us to hear about the latest news in Ambulatory Care Nursing…hot off the press from the AAACN 42nd Annual Conference! Those of us that attended want to share our experiences.   As in past years, upon returning from attending the AAACN Annual Conference Julie and I  have organized a “debriefing” session.   The purpose is to share the highlights and valuable information from the conference with our coworkers and to encourage our colleagues to join this professional organization. Memo: To all NFSG VHS Ambulatory Care Nurses & Attendees of the AAACN 42nd Annual Conference 2017 Re: AAACN 42nd Annual Conference Debriefing When: Monday June 26th @ 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM Modality: VANTS Line & Lync