ANCC conferences provide incomparable education and networking opportunities.

More than 13,000 nurses from across the United States and 27 countries descended on Chicago in person and virtually October 12-14 for the 2023 co-located ANCC National Magnet Conference® and ANCC Pathway to Excellence Conference® to celebrate nursing excellence, gain new insights, and network with colleagues old and new.

“This conference is a premier annual event for the ANA Enterprise family and for the nursing profession at large, not only in the United States but around the world,” said ANA Enterprise CEO Loressa Cole, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, during the opening general session. “This is where our shared dedication to nursing excellence and our shared ambition for a healthier society really gets its moment in the sun.

The highlight of the 3 days—the Magnet Recognition Program® and Pathway to Excellence® Program designation celebration—featured thousands of nurses reveling in more than 200 organizations being designated or redesignated between September 2022 and August 2023. This festive observance ceremony ended on a high note with recognition of the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, the first organization to gain Magnet designation and the first seventh-time designee.

The co-located conferences also offered ample opportunities for networking and socializing, including the welcoming party at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, and Passport to Prizes, a scavenger hunt among the more than 400 exhibitors. Attendees also gave to the Chicago community and nursing profession, donating more than 350 pairs of socks as part of a Socktober event and stuffing 2,500 self-care bags for local charities. The American Nurses Foundation raised more than $230,000 at the conference through a text-to-give campaign, other events, and matching donations, including support for RefugeeOne, the largest refugee resettlement agency in Illinois. Donations to the Foundation also supported Passport to Prizes and, with sponsorship from Stryker, $40,000 for scholarships to attend the conference.

Recognizing excellence

In keeping with tradition, the recipients of the 2022 ANCC Magnet Prize® and the 2022 ANCC Pathway Award®, both sponsored by Oracle Cerner, returned to update attendees on their progress over the prior year. Representatives from St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, NJ—recipient of the 2022 ANCC Magnet Prize—reported further implementing and augmenting the evidence base involving Tunnel Vision, an ultrasound-guided vascular access program. MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washing-ton, DC, used the 2022 ANCC Pathway Award monies to successfully develop WellBot, a robotic wellness program, and enhance the organization’s wellness initiatives.
(See Exemplary practices, innovative solutions for more information about awards.)

Education to the fore

In addition to three general session addresses by noted motivational speakers Shawn Achor, Suneel Gupta, and Inky Johnson, the onsite conference featured 120 educational sessions covering timely and relevant content across four Magnet Recognition Program themes (structural empowerment, exemplary professional practice, new knowledge, innovations, and improvements, and transformational leadership) and the Pathway to Excellence standards (professional development, safety and quality, shared decision-making and leadership, and well-being). More than 170 poster sessions highlighted attendees’ research findings and practice insights. In addition to two general sessions, virtual attendees could access 20 virtual sessions, including 15 exclusively available online. Summaries from a sampling of concurrent sessions follows.

Advanced practice provider (APP) councils were the subject of a Magnet session presented by ANCC staff members Sean DeGarmo, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, FNP-BC, ENP-BC, and Elizabeth Walters, DNP, CPNP, RN, along with Megan Fulton, DMSc, PA-C, system executive director of APPs at MUSC Health. They explored how an APP council representing not only advanced practice RNs but also physician assistants and anesthesiology assistants can support all these professions. This platform for collaboration, creativity, diversity, inclusion, and excellence facilitates role clarity and professional development for APPs. The panelists and audience members shared how APP councils led to policies and legislation that enabled better recognition and improved well-being, and also allowed APPs to practice to the top of their licensure.

In a Pathway session, ANCC staff members Leigh Hume, MN, RN, NE-BC, and Maricon Dans, MSN, RN, NE-BC, explored best practices and evidence-based strategies for integrating diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) into an organization’s culture. Hume emphasized that organizations committed to these practices and strategies experience improved innovation, financial performance, and outcomes—for both patients and their workforces. Hume and Dans discussed the need for organizational commitment, cultural integration, and structural empowerment. Dans stressed that while organizations develop strategies and frameworks, achieving DEIB requires deeper engagement by leaders. “It’s not just a checklist but rather a deep sense of staff belongingness that truly matters,” she added.

In another Pathway session, Texas Nurses Association member Nisha Paul, BSN, RN, CPPS, and her colleague Lindsay Backschies, MSN, MLS, RN, NEA-BC, detailed how their employer, Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, took concerted action against workplace violence (WPV). Already aware of the prevalence of WPV, Baylor reacted to an increase in these events on its campus and a decrease in identifcation and understanding. Baylor then standardized its response to WPV, implementing a four-pronged strategy involving education, data collection, collaboration, and communication. Extensive staff education, a WPV bundle, an escalation process, a re-structured workplace safety committee with broad representation, and development and analysis of safety dashboard data led to greater awareness and reporting of WPV as well as further education and intervention efforts.

Donna Leno Gordon, MS, MPA, RN, NC-BC, and ANA-NY member Maria Veronica Nitorreda, MAN, RN, NC-BC, in a Pathway session that started and ended with mindfulness moments for presenters and audience, described the multi-faceted evidence-based approach NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County has taken to promote staff well-being. Direct care nurses helped plan this initiative, which was built on eight dimensions of wellness and a 10-question baseline survey of staff. Kings County coupled wellness rounds and rooms, Schwartz rounds and debriefs with opportunities for staff to learn about and practice transcendental meditation, mind-fulness meditation, and Reiki. Kings County also recognizes staff throughout the year in various ways. Gordon and Nitorreda detailed best wellness practices for nurse leaders, which they themselves model, such as creating norms for self-care within the workday and investing in programs that develop resiliency skills.

In a Magnet session, UW Health representatives Mark Ravis, MDiv, BA, ADN, RN, PMH-BC, and Sarah Brzozowski, PhD, MBA, BA, RN, NEA-BC, a Wisconsin Nurses Association member, discussed how UW Health in Madison, WI, evolved its nursing council structure using both top-down and bottom-up engagement along with leadership support to achieve structural empowerment for UW Health nurses. Ravis and Brzozowski focused on five key aspects of the nursing council structure, including unit chairs, unit councils, bylaws, education, and evaluation. Surveys of unit councils along with cause-and-effect fishbone diagrams revealed common challenges and concerns. UW Health developed a checklist for unit chairs to clarify their roles and responsibilities and bring consistency to unit council functions.
Delaware Nurses Association member Danielle Sarik, PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC, and Melody Hernandez, MD, PhD, RN, described in a Magnet session how Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami launched Baby Steps, a nurse-led telehealth model, to ease the transition home for families after their babies are discharged from neonatal intensive care units (NICU). Using grant funding, Baby Steps pro-vides services for 2 weeks after discharge for Florida-based families, including anticipatory guidance and teaching and answering families’ questions and concerns. Three years after implementing Baby Steps, the NICU experienced a 57% decrease in 30-day readmissions.

Next year

Celebrations and exceptional educational and networking opportunities will take place at the 2024 co-located ANCC National Magnet Conference® and ANCC Pathway to Excellence Conference®, October 30 – November 1, 2024, in New Orleans.

— Genna Rollins is writer-editor at ANA.

American Nurse Journal. 2023; 18(12). Doi: 10.51256/ANJ122330