President’s Message
Coming of Age
Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN
Since becoming a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, both it and I have matured. In 1991, Loretta Sweet-Jemmott and I were supposed to be standing quietly in place in a hallway while we awaited our turn to take the stage of the hotel ballroom to be inducted as new fellows. Instead, we were reconnecting (we had worked at the same university for a short time) and laughing hysterically about Loretta’s enhanced presentation in a gorgeous dress that hid a “wonder” garment. The then chief executive officer (CEO) Janet Heinrich had to come by and tell us to be quiet. It seems our laughter was carrying into the ballroom and contributing to the rising din of chatter at the circular dinner tables. That din got louder as the night and drinking went on. It was a party despite the attempt at being a distinguished affair. I was mortified but glad to be at the party. It was the era of what I describe as the Academy’s “good ol’ girls club” days. The Academy was a young and honorific society that had aspirations but was still growing up. A series of stellar presidents led the Academy through these early years, finding important works to undertake and showcase including the Magnet hospital study (McClure, Poulin, Sovie, & Wandelt, 1983); a series of monographs and books on health policy and nursing practice (e.g., Aiken, 1981; American Academy of Nursing, 1981; Sorenson, 1985); and some position papers on violence, cultural competence, and other topics, but we were mostly talking to ourselves. The mission of the Academy is to “serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge,” and we have certainly served the nursing profession through our works. Accomplishing the public dimension of this mission has been challenging, but I believe that we are now poised to do so in significant ways. As your new president, you have my commitment to lead the Academy in fully living up to this mission.
I will do so on the shoulders of those who have come before me. I have had the pleasure of serving as secretary and then president-elect under the last three presidents and two CEOs. Linda Burnes Bolton was president during the move of our annual meeting to Washington, DC. The Raise the Voice initiative launched during her term and became a signature project that showed our capacity to get our innovations and perspectives on policies to the public and policy makers. CEO Pat Ford-Roegner used her deep policy experience and connections to get the Academy in front of key stakeholders and to serve as partners in important coalitions. The subsequent president, Catherine Gilliss, followed with building the Academy’s infrastructure to better position us to be “policy ready” and nimble. (We also changed the format of the induction ceremony so that it is now a distinguished event attended by over 1,000 peopledfollowed by a party.) Outgoing president Joanne Disch prioritized fellow engagement with an emphasis on helping the expert panels to focus on key policy issues and products. Cheryl Sullivan, our current CEO, was hired during the end of Gilliss’s term after serving as deputy chief of staff for U.S. Senator Evan Bayh and has worked tirelessly over the past 2 years to refine our operations, provide support for the Academy’s policy work, and open doors for strategic partnerships. Our new strategic plan addresses three goals that speak to our growth and readiness to play a leadership role in helping our profession and our nation to advance the health of people: 1. Position nurses to lead change to improve health and health care and drive policy. This goal reflects the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s (2010) report on The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health and builds upon the Academy’s recent efforts to promote nurses for significant appointments to governing boards, commissions, task forces, and other policy-related entities. 2. Assure that health care reform achieves the Triple Aim of better care for individuals, better health for populations, and lower per capita costs. The Affordable Care Act is an important first step in trying to achieve the Triple Aim, but it will be insufficient to get us there. This goal speaks to the importance of nursing’s perspectives on health and health care, focusing our attention on how the Affordable Care Act is being implemented and additional policies that may be needed. It also aligns with the Academy’s recent commitment to support the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Choosing Wisely campaign (http://www.abimfoundation.org/Initiatives/
382
Nurs Outlook 61 (2013) 381e382
Choosing-Wisely.aspx), which seeks to improve value in U.S. health care spending by restraining the overuse of costly, often redundant medical tests and procedures and our intention of identifying nursing practices that align with this aim. (See “Choosing Wisely Nursing” in this issue of Nursing Outlook.) 3. Lead efforts, in partnership with others, to address the broad range of factors that affect the health of populations. We are spending over $2.7 trillion dollars on health care annually (Hartman, Martin, Benson, Catlin, & The National Health Expenditure Accounts Team, 2013). This spending is undermining the nation’s ability to promote healthy communities through economic and social development. It has been in nursing’s best interests to focus its attention on health care services that require nursing’s expertise and create positions for the nation’s 3 million nurses, but this has not always been in the public’s best interests. With this new goal, the Academy will work with key stakeholders to promote critical conversations about the economic and social policies that can costeffectively promote the health of populations. Now entering its 41st year, the Academy is growing up and so am I. I still look forward to enjoying my Academy friends and colleagues when I’m with them, and I am not averse to being disruptive, but I am honored to serve as your president and look forward to your ideas and contributions to this new strategic agenda to advance the Academy’s mission.
references
Aiken, L. (Ed.). (1981). Health policy and nursing practice. New York: McGraw-Hill.
American Academy of Nursing. (1981). The impact of changing resources on health policy. Washington, DC: The American Nurses Association. Hartman, M., Martin, A. B., Benson, J., Catlin, A., & National Health Expenditure Accounts Team. (2013). National health spending in 2011: Overall growth remains low, but some payers and services show signs of acceleration. Health Aff, 32(1), 87e99. McClure, M., Poulin, M., Sovie, M., & Wandelt, M. (1983). Magnet hospitals: Attraction and retention of professional nurses. Washington, DC: American Nurses Association. Sorenson, G. (Ed.). (1985). The economics of health care and nursing. Washington, DC: American Nurses Association.
Author Description Diana J. Mason, Rudin Professor of Nursing and Co-Director, Center for Health, Media & Policy, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY.
Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing Center for Health, Media & Policy Hunter College City University of New York New York, NY Corresponding author: Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN 455 W 44th Street, #22 New York, NY 10036. E-mail address: [email protected] 0029-6554/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2013.10.002
Coming of Age
Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN
Since becoming a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, both it and I have matured. In 1991, Loretta Sweet-Jemmott and I were supposed to be standing quietly in place in a hallway while we awaited our turn to take the stage of the hotel ballroom to be inducted as new fellows. Instead, we were reconnecting (we had worked at the same university for a short time) and laughing hysterically about Loretta’s enhanced presentation in a gorgeous dress that hid a “wonder” garment. The then chief executive officer (CEO) Janet Heinrich had to come by and tell us to be quiet. It seems our laughter was carrying into the ballroom and contributing to the rising din of chatter at the circular dinner tables. That din got louder as the night and drinking went on. It was a party despite the attempt at being a distinguished affair. I was mortified but glad to be at the party. It was the era of what I describe as the Academy’s “good ol’ girls club” days. The Academy was a young and honorific society that had aspirations but was still growing up. A series of stellar presidents led the Academy through these early years, finding important works to undertake and showcase including the Magnet hospital study (McClure, Poulin, Sovie, & Wandelt, 1983); a series of monographs and books on health policy and nursing practice (e.g., Aiken, 1981; American Academy of Nursing, 1981; Sorenson, 1985); and some position papers on violence, cultural competence, and other topics, but we were mostly talking to ourselves. The mission of the Academy is to “serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge,” and we have certainly served the nursing profession through our works. Accomplishing the public dimension of this mission has been challenging, but I believe that we are now poised to do so in significant ways. As your new president, you have my commitment to lead the Academy in fully living up to this mission.
I will do so on the shoulders of those who have come before me. I have had the pleasure of serving as secretary and then president-elect under the last three presidents and two CEOs. Linda Burnes Bolton was president during the move of our annual meeting to Washington, DC. The Raise the Voice initiative launched during her term and became a signature project that showed our capacity to get our innovations and perspectives on policies to the public and policy makers. CEO Pat Ford-Roegner used her deep policy experience and connections to get the Academy in front of key stakeholders and to serve as partners in important coalitions. The subsequent president, Catherine Gilliss, followed with building the Academy’s infrastructure to better position us to be “policy ready” and nimble. (We also changed the format of the induction ceremony so that it is now a distinguished event attended by over 1,000 peopledfollowed by a party.) Outgoing president Joanne Disch prioritized fellow engagement with an emphasis on helping the expert panels to focus on key policy issues and products. Cheryl Sullivan, our current CEO, was hired during the end of Gilliss’s term after serving as deputy chief of staff for U.S. Senator Evan Bayh and has worked tirelessly over the past 2 years to refine our operations, provide support for the Academy’s policy work, and open doors for strategic partnerships. Our new strategic plan addresses three goals that speak to our growth and readiness to play a leadership role in helping our profession and our nation to advance the health of people: 1. Position nurses to lead change to improve health and health care and drive policy. This goal reflects the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s (2010) report on The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health and builds upon the Academy’s recent efforts to promote nurses for significant appointments to governing boards, commissions, task forces, and other policy-related entities. 2. Assure that health care reform achieves the Triple Aim of better care for individuals, better health for populations, and lower per capita costs. The Affordable Care Act is an important first step in trying to achieve the Triple Aim, but it will be insufficient to get us there. This goal speaks to the importance of nursing’s perspectives on health and health care, focusing our attention on how the Affordable Care Act is being implemented and additional policies that may be needed. It also aligns with the Academy’s recent commitment to support the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Choosing Wisely campaign (http://www.abimfoundation.org/Initiatives/
382
Nurs Outlook 61 (2013) 381e382
Choosing-Wisely.aspx), which seeks to improve value in U.S. health care spending by restraining the overuse of costly, often redundant medical tests and procedures and our intention of identifying nursing practices that align with this aim. (See “Choosing Wisely Nursing” in this issue of Nursing Outlook.) 3. Lead efforts, in partnership with others, to address the broad range of factors that affect the health of populations. We are spending over $2.7 trillion dollars on health care annually (Hartman, Martin, Benson, Catlin, & The National Health Expenditure Accounts Team, 2013). This spending is undermining the nation’s ability to promote healthy communities through economic and social development. It has been in nursing’s best interests to focus its attention on health care services that require nursing’s expertise and create positions for the nation’s 3 million nurses, but this has not always been in the public’s best interests. With this new goal, the Academy will work with key stakeholders to promote critical conversations about the economic and social policies that can costeffectively promote the health of populations. Now entering its 41st year, the Academy is growing up and so am I. I still look forward to enjoying my Academy friends and colleagues when I’m with them, and I am not averse to being disruptive, but I am honored to serve as your president and look forward to your ideas and contributions to this new strategic agenda to advance the Academy’s mission.
references
Aiken, L. (Ed.). (1981). Health policy and nursing practice. New York: McGraw-Hill.
American Academy of Nursing. (1981). The impact of changing resources on health policy. Washington, DC: The American Nurses Association. Hartman, M., Martin, A. B., Benson, J., Catlin, A., & National Health Expenditure Accounts Team. (2013). National health spending in 2011: Overall growth remains low, but some payers and services show signs of acceleration. Health Aff, 32(1), 87e99. McClure, M., Poulin, M., Sovie, M., & Wandelt, M. (1983). Magnet hospitals: Attraction and retention of professional nurses. Washington, DC: American Nurses Association. Sorenson, G. (Ed.). (1985). The economics of health care and nursing. Washington, DC: American Nurses Association.
Author Description Diana J. Mason, Rudin Professor of Nursing and Co-Director, Center for Health, Media & Policy, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY.
Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing Center for Health, Media & Policy Hunter College City University of New York New York, NY Corresponding author: Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN 455 W 44th Street, #22 New York, NY 10036. E-mail address: [email protected] 0029-6554/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2013.10.002
