They say everything’s bigger in Texas and we definitely represented our state well at the national nursing Magnet® conference in Dallas last week. More than 7,000 nurses and nursing executives from top hospitals came to celebrate Magnet Recognition® and gathered to share evidence-based practices. Amongst them were a group of 52 Texas Children’s nurses and nurse leaders. It was an honor to represent the incredible nursing team at Texas Children’s and a truly inspirational experience.
This year’s conference was my third and I had the great pleasure of presenting along with my colleague Jackie Ward, RN Asst. Vice President of Nursing. Our presentation, “A framework for leadership development and succession planning” was amongst four podium presentations and three poster presentations by nurses and leaders from Texas Children’s. This was our chance to shine and present to the other hospitals what our nursing team has been doing to improve outcomes and reach for excellence in nursing care. It was amazing to see so many hospitals that are striving for nursing excellence in one place. There were nurses from all over the world focused on improving outcomes and achieving Magnet® status. We also had a specific pediatric session where all the pediatric hospitals came together to discuss how to achieve positive outcomes within pediatric subspecialties.
During the conference, talk of Ebola was rampant, as Dallas is the site for treating an Ebola patient. I toured Children’s Medical Center Dallas Hospital, and was asked screening questions related to international travel. During the conference, we discussed our plans for Ebola screening, and Texas Children’s is right in line with other hospitals in preparations.
The theme of this year’s conference, “think big, go magnet,” went hand-in-hand with our state’s larger than life mentality. It was an opportunity to share great ideas and be inspired to do big things to improve patient care through nursing. We were especially proud to represent Texas Children’s as our own neonatologist and star of TLC’s The Little Couple, Dr. Jennifer Arnold kicked off the conference as the keynote speaker. Dr. Arnold gave an inspirational talk highlighting the strong partnerships between nursing and physicians in planning and coordinating patient care.
It wasn’t all business at this conference. One of my favorite moments of the trip was a pizza night for Texas Children’s nursing staff where we got to kick back, relax and have some fun getting to know the other nurses better. After a week away from the hospital, I am happy and excited to bring back everything I learned to share with the rest of my team and really put best practices to use here. The Magnet® conference is a chance to be reminded of how important of a role you play in the patients’ lives. You walk away proud to be a nurse, inspired to do great things, and pumped about the Magnet program®.