WASHINGTON, May 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Preventing back injuries, gaining competency in basic disaster life support and care of the aged, and embracing Magnet(TM) hospital best practices in staffing are among the wide-ranging educational topics to be featured at the American Nurses Association (ANA) 2004 Biennial Convention, June 26-29 in Minneapolis, MN.
“Nurses: Your Voice, Your Health, Your Life - Your Career” is the theme of the convention, which will offer more than 120 educational sessions covering a range of topics and practice areas, and some of nursing’s top speakers, who will share their knowledge and experiences.
Invited to offer the keynote address at the four-day nursing event is United States Surgeon General Vice Admiral Richard Carmona, MD, MPH, FACS. As Surgeon General, Dr. Carmona is one of our nation’s chief spokespersons on public health and medicine. During his long, distinguished career, Dr. Carmona has served in a variety of roles in the medical field, including paramedic, educator, surgeon and registered nurse.
Also scheduled is a June 26 pre-conference session on preventing back injuries. This session will focus on the progress being made in ANA’s “Handle with Care” ergonomics campaign, which was launched last September. The campaign seeks to mount an effort to prevent back and other musculoskeletal injuries that afflict up to 52 percent of nurses -- through greater education and training and the increased use of assistive equipment and patient handling devices.
Another highlight of the convention will be an ANA Political Action Committee fundraising event featuring Newsweek correspondent Eleanor Clift, who will discuss her book, “Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives: The Founding Sisters and Their Struggles for the 19th Amendment.” Ms. Clift’s discussion will be followed by a special presentation of HBO’s Iron Jawed Angels.
A key entertainment event will be a June 25 showing of “Blue Vinyl,” which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. This film has “ignited” a consumer revolution to phase out polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Considered “the worst polluter ever,” PVC is associated with dioxin -- the most potent carcinogen known -- and ethylene dichloride, which together can cause severe health problems such as cancer, endocrine disruption, endometriosis, neurological damage, birth defects and impaired child development, and reproductive and immune system damage. Moreover, dioxin is a persistent bioaccumulative toxin that accumulates in fatty tissues and travels up the food chain. Finally, PVC plants are among the top targets for a potential terrorist attack, which could endanger millions of lives. The film is co- sponsored by Healthcare Without Harm.
In between these featured events are a plethora of concurrent educational sessions designed to provide nurses from all levels of clinical background and practice the opportunity to build their knowledge and skills on issues and areas that are vital to nursing. In addition, nurses will have the opportunity to network and exchange information, and to visit the convention’s exhibit hall where health care products and services designed to make nursing practice safer and more efficient will be on display.
As ANA President Barbara Blakeney, MS, APRN,BC, ANP, noted, this year’s convention theme “Nurses: Your Voice, Your Health, Your Life - Your Career” reminds us how important nurses are to patients, families and society as take- charge providers and advocates. “But today, our reality is shaped by new forces, including the massive reorientation of our health care system toward bioterrorism preparedness and the challenges of AIDS, SARS, and other deadly illnesses. And ANA is ready to respond to this reality -- by offering these one-of-a-kind events and exhibit offerings, along with the opportunity to discuss and share the challenges and joys of nursing with other nurses.”
For details, including how to register, call 1-800-274-4ANA or visit http://www.nursingworld.org/.
ANA is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation’s 2.7 million Registered Nurses through its 54 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
American Nurses Association
CONTACT: Cindy Price, +1-202-651-7038, or Carol Cooke, +1-202-651-7027,both of American Nurses Association, RN=RealNews@ana.org
