All times listed in Central Time (US & Canada).
Download event agenda (PDF)

Saturday, November 4, 2023

• 8:00am - 8:30am

  Registration Opens

• 8:30am - 8:45am

  Intro/Welcome by ANA-Illinois President

• 8:45am - 9:45am

  Keynote Session - Social Media for Nurses

  Mona Shattell PhD, RN, FAAN

  Social and other digital media outlets provide nurses with tools to share information, to debate health care policy and practice issues, to promote healthy behaviors, and to engage with the public.​ In our new digital world, it is up to us to speak outside of our clinical practices and professional arenas. Your position as a nurse makes you credible, trustworthy, and able to affect change.​ This presentation will generate enthusiasm for beginners, intermediate, and advanced users of social media by showing you why it’s important and by giving you the tools necessary to amplify your voice.

• 9:45am - 10:00am

  Break/Exhibit Hall

• 10:00am - 10:45am

  Promoting Self-Assessment and Self-Care for Nurses Using the R.E.S.T. Framework

  Lori Wagner PhD, RN & Pamela DiVito-Thomas PhD, RN, CNE

  The overall objective of this podium presentation would be to describe relevant strategies to promote self-assessment and self-care for nurses using the R.E.S.T. framework. As professional nurses determine how best to navigate the already complex landscape of healthcare, the need for self-assessment and self-care has become evident. The ANA’s Code of Ethics, Provision 5, challenges nurses to hold themselves accountable regarding their own health promotion and safety, maintenance of character, integrity, and personal and professional development (2015, p. 19). While nurses have learned how to assess and prioritize care for their patients, nurses may not have learned how to assess and prioritize care for themselves. Nurses have basic human needs that must be met before their professional desire to care for others with compassion and empathy can be met. The physical aspect of self-care includes the concepts of health promotion and safety mentioned above in the ANA’s Provision 5. Nurses need to eat a well-balanced diet, wear a seatbelt when driving, maintain an exercise regimen and acquire restorative sleep. At the workplace, nurses need to follow policies and protocols while lifting or moving patients, working with hazardous or infectious materials, preventing workplace incivility and/or violence to name a few. A nurse’s ability to maintain their physical core is one facet of self-care to be further explored. The R.E.S.T. framework (Rajamohan et al, 2020) is focused on building resilience for nurses through relationships, exercise, self-compassion and transformative thinking. Resources to promote self-assessment and self-care for nurses using framework will be shared.

• 10:45am - 11:00am

  Break/Exhibit Hall

• 11:00am - 12:30pm

  Membership Meeting

  - President Address
  - Report from the Treasurer
  - Election Results
  - Recognitional Awards

• 12:30pm - 1:15pm

  Lunch

• 1:15pm - 2:15pm

  Mindfulness and Self Compassion to Improve Burnout

  Betsy Murphy MS, RN, HNB-BC, CIAYT

  Evidence that contemplative practices promote wellbeing has been growing for decades. Health benefits of mindfulness have been demonstrated across multiple populations including physicians and nurses for whom benefits include reduced burnout and compassion fatigue. Providing nurses with practices to support qualities of compassion can impact job satisfaction and retention. Compassion practice is a specific domain of mindfulness meditation that has been introduced to mainstream culture through secular compassion-training programs. Compassion is widely defined as the urge to bring ease and relieve suffering. Nurses ae called upon to provide care and compassion and experience burnout and fatigue when they no longer have inner resources to support this basic capacity of heart.

  Training in self compassion practices can strengthen compassionate responsiveness. Such training aims to increase empathic concern, decrease empathic distress, foster a sense of purpose, and strengthen resilience—thus enabling the therapeutic mission of nurses of attending to, understanding, and supporting the relief of suffering. The presentation will provide a conceptual framework for understanding and developing self-compassion, based on a component model, and will discuss the value of compassion practices for healthcare providers. Participants will be guided through brief self compassion practices during the session.

• 2:15pm - 2:30pm

  Break

• 2:30pm - 3:15pm

  A Qualitative Exploration of the Black Nurses' Experience Practicing During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

  Kashica Webber-Ritchey PhD, MHA, RN

  The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted peoples’ lives globally. However, Black communities have been disproportionately burdened with COVID-19 due to social and health disparities. Black nurses play a crucial role in alleviating these disparities across all medical specialties. Limited evidence exists on the experience of Black nurses practicing during COVID-19 pandemic in the United States (US).

  Using a qualitative descriptive methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted from May to September 2020 with 100 US nurses practicing during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to describe the experience of Black nurses practicing during the COVID-19 pandemic utilizing the interviews of Black nurses (n=20) to examine their experiences. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and verified by the research team. Thematic analysis was performed for qualitative interview data and formal coding was completed using Dedoose web-based software.

  Most of the participants described the presence and absence of social support within their social networks while practicing during COVID-19. Nurses shared experiences of fear in the absence of social support.

  Black nurses experienced a significant amount of stress while practicing during the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed how social support within their social networks was inadequate. Listening to the voices of Black nurses can provide insight into how to optimize their health and well-being during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying how to best support Black nurses can lead to better outcomes for Black communities and requires leadership at unit, organizational, and national levels.

• 3:15pm - 4:15pm

  Unwrapping Holiday Stress: Strategies for a Calmer Season

  Constance Ritzman MSN, CNE & Karen Egenes RN, EdD, CNE

  The holiday season is often portrayed as a time of joy and togetherness. But for nurses it can bring unique of challenges and stressors. This presentation will shed light on specific holiday related stressors experienced by nurses with focus on emotional well-being, burnout prevention, coping mechanisms, and stress reduction techniques. Nurses play a critical role in healthcare, often; working long hours and sacrificing personal time to care for others. The holiday season can exacerbate the stress they already face as they juggle professional responsibilities with family obligations and expectations. This presentation will explore the impact of family dynamics on nurses during the holidays, addressing potential conflicts, strained relations;hips, and the importance of advanced planning. Emotional well-being will also be discussed, especially the emotional toll nurses experience during the holidays, such as feelings of guilt, loneliness, and missing out on cherished moments with their own families. Strategies to manage these emotions and prioritize self-care will be explored. In addition to caring for their own emotional needs, nurses must also help patients and their families during this time. These issues might include family conflict, alcohol misuse, heightened loneliness, financial pressures, increasing mental health difficulties and domestic violence. Participants will gain insights into recognizing the signs of holiday stress and its prevention. Coping mechanisms, and stress reduction techniques will be highlighted. Attendees will learn evidence-based strategies to manage stress, such as mindfulness, exercise, and time management. The presentation will encourage the development of personalized strategies that align with individual needs.

• 4:15pm - 4:30pm

  Wrap Up/Giveaways