Message from NLN President:
Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN
Chief Executive Officer

Colleagues, I just emerged, or surfaced, from the first NLN Board of Governors' meeting for 2012. It was absolutely fantastic. We approved our budget; re-envisioned the NLN as we initiated a review of our strategic plan; oriented our three new board members, Marilyn Frenn, June Larson, and George Velianoff; and dropped in on the Broadway play "Chicago." Oh, I almost forgot, due to the extraordinary leadership of our president, Judith Halstead, we actually ended the board meeting early. I am convinced: this is the way to start off a new year.

I am so proud of the NLN and humbled to be the representative of an organization committed to advocating with, and for, the nurse educator. Our programming is specifically designed to meet the professional development needs of educators in all nursing education programs.

One of our signature programs is ACES - Advancing Care Excellence for Seniors. ACES came into existence after we identified a critical need for faculty to prepare students in all pre-licensure nursing programs to provide individualized, humane, and culturally sensitive care for a multi-ethnic aging population. While clearly reflecting our core values of caring, integrity, diversity, and excellence, ACES also embodies the NLN operational principle of co-creation and collaboration. We received funding from the John A. Hartford Foundation, Laerdal Medical, and the Independence Foundation, and we worked with partners at Community College of Philadelphia and a panel of experts on geriatric nursing education. Together we developed the ACES curriculum, along with unfolding cases and other easily accessible teaching strategies. This multi-layered grant, with its multiplicity of partners, is truly an example of NLN excellence.

Now we have another, much-appreciated partner. With the support of the Hearst Foundations, we are now able to offer workshops and related webinars in all regions of the country to help you integrate the ACES curriculum into your curriculum. I love to see such synergy of purpose.

Dr. Elaine Tagliareni, NLN chief program officer, is the ACES project director. If you know Elaine, you know that she is always finding ways to acknowledge others. So I am pleased, but not surprised, to be introducing a unique feature of the Hearst Foundations grant: the Excellence in Geriatric Education Award. Between the 2012 NLN Education Summit in Anaheim and the 2015 Summit in Las Vegas (yes, we plan ahead), 12 schools of nursing will be selected for this prestigious honor.

Let me describe how you can become eligible: at least one faculty member from applicant schools must participate in a 2012 ACES workshop and two ACES webinars, and have used ACES Essential Nursing Actions to enhance geriatric education for students. (The criteria are just summarized here, so please visit the ACES website for more details.)

Awardees will present their innovative approaches to teaching geriatrics at the pre-Summit ACES workshop session. They will receive a certificate and a plaque, plus complimentary Summit registration for one faculty member and partial support for Summit travel costs.

The deadline for award applications is May 1, and there is no application fee.

I know you will be challenged by this competition to come up with some great teaching strategies based on applying ACES in your classroom. Plan your application carefully as nursing programs may apply only once during the four years of this award. But think of it - what an opportunity this is for your school to be recognized for excellence in teaching. I imagine that some great journal articles (supported by your participation in the NLN's Scholarly Writing Retreats) will emerge from your work, and best practices for teaching pre-licensure students to care for older adults will spread throughout the local, national, and global community of nursing education and health care systems.

We all have a vested interest in the results of this competition. With each new year and every uninvited ache and pain, I am reminded that I, a baby boomer, will soon be counted among the many Americans identified as senior. This is a crucial area of nursing care, and it is our job, but also our passion, to ensure that nursing students work toward excellence to advance the nation's health re Licensing - To best service your homecare agency with the orientation of new hires, the Connecticut League for Nursing (CLN) and Charter Oak State College are offering licensing of our Online Homecare Orientation Modules that were developed in collaboration with the Connecticut Association for Home Care and Hospice (CAHCH)

Home Care Licensing