LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | Susan M. Hohenhaus, LPD, RN, CEN, FAEN
Transitioning From Investment to Implementation, 2012-13 It is always a pleasure to bring you greetings from the 80-plus staff members who support the work of ENA and you. In 2012, ENA headquarters focused on organizational assessment, diagnosis and planning. Just as you perform an assessment of a patient, we did an assessment of our association. What we discovered was concerning. The organization’s health was a little like an ED patient who presents with an ESI of 3. Our ‘‘patient’’ was not critically ill or in need of resuscitation but needed a fair amount of resources to make a diagnosis and treat some chronic illnesses in order to more fully optimize its health. As we performed this in-depth assessment, running critical
8
diagnostics, we discovered some potentially serious problems. Two areas specifically needed to be addressed, and we began redesigning and realigning our human capital and our information technology infrastructure. These are the two most important methods of communication we have with our members and other stakeholders. In March, ENA hired a new Chief Nursing Officer, Betty Mortensen, MS, BSN, RN, FACHE (see the June/July issue of ENA Connection for an interview with Betty). We also added two highly educated and respected members to our nursing team: Dr. Lisa Wolf, PhD, RN, CEN, FAEN, as the director of the Institute for Emergency Nursing Research, and Dr. Paula Karnick, PhD, ANP-BC, CPNP, director
of Education. Betty, Lisa and Paula joined Kathy Szumanski, MSN, RN, NE-BC, director of the Institute for Quality Safety and Injury Prevention, creating a very talented and passionate group of emergency nurse leaders. We established new positions to support the development of innovative and relevant products and resources. (Have you accessed your free CE lately? These new members of the education team are responsible for that project.) Realignment of staff departments and roles was conducted to better support, develop and innovate to further the mission of the association. For example, ENA launched the Career Wellness Initiative, focused on developing resources for members to assist in career and professional development.
February 2013