RE:Connect

ONS LDI Totem Sharing

Howdy yall!!!!! I'm here in Texas at ONS Leadership Development Institute (LDI).  The conference began on Thursday evening and it's been a great learning experience thus far.  There are 54 LDI lellows this year and yesterday we had a wonderful "Meet & Greet" activity that involved sharing a totem that described who you are as a person and/or where you've come from.  This is one of the best "Ice Breaker" activities I've ever participated in.  It was interesting to see how creative and unique each fellows' totem was.  Common themes emerged throughtout the exercise some of which included compassion, caring, teamwork and our committment to providing safe and quality care to our patients.

My personal totem was a laminated sheet that included pictures of my favorite things, places and symbols that are important to me as a nurse.  My LDI fellows promised that they would blog with me so I'll allow them to comment and share what their personal totems are.  I also invite all non-LDI fellows to tell me what their personal totem would be.  I look forward to hearing form you all.

PS- The ONS LDI project team ROCKS!!!!  Myself and the fellows are learning so much and having a ball.

ONS Leadership Development Institute here I come……

I applied to the ONS Leadership Development Institute (LDI) conference which will be held in Woodlands, Texas on October 22-25, 2009. I am very honored and excited to be accepted.  ONS LDI is a program that educates oncology nurses to effectively manage projects and take an active role as a leader, mentor, coach, and role model, both personally and professionally.  I know the information I learn and the opportunity to network with other oncology nurses will be invaluable to my career in the future.

   Considering the current financial environment I also applied for an ONS Foundation/ONS LDI Conference Scholarship to attend.  As I mentioned in my previous blog entry the ONS Foundation supports nurses financially to assist with professional development endeavors.  I was recently informed that I was selected for the $1,000 Shelly Schuster-Abrahams Memorial LDI Conference Scholarship.  Needless to say I feel ecstatic and privileged to have been selected by the ONS Foundation.

 Whether you are an oncology nurse leader or not I encourage you to research the program and apply in the future.  When I return from the conference I will blog about my experience but from the feedback I’ve heard and read from past participants I’m sure that the program will be both beneficial and useful to me.

  If you’ve attended ONS LDI in the past let us know what you thought the most valuable lesson learned was?

What Do You Think About the Changes ONS Is Making to Maintain the Great Work ONS Does?

In the October 2009 ONS Connect Working for You column, ONS CEO Paula Rieger talks about the changes ONS has made in response to the economy. These changes are to ensure that the great work being done by ONS is maintained and that the Society continues to have the ability to do new things.

 

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this and on how your own workplaces are responding to the economy. Please share your ideas, concerns, and opinions in the comments section on this blog post.

I love being a part of the New York ONS Local Chapter

Last night the New York ONS Local Chapter held one of our dinner meetings.  After a long day at work I was looking forward to sitting down and enjoying a good meal and catching up with some of my colleagues while learning something new from the speaker.  I sat next to nurses that I used to work with on a daily basis but now only see occassionally and briefly.  Needless to say there was lots of catching up to do and plenty of laughs to go around.  I forgot how funny Ann, Sarah & Denise are :-)

The speaker was great, she worked for a reproductive medicine practice and presented "Fertility Preservation: A Nursing Perspective".  As an oncology nurse I enjoyed her presentation because it was very informative and discussed the various options our patients have to conceive.  This is one area I believe oncology healthcare providers have yet to master.  We need to do a better job at assessing and meeting the fertility needs of all our oncology patients.

A member of the ONS Foundation spoke to us briefly about the various opportunities for oncology nurses to receive financial assistance for professional activities.  She encouraged each of us to make a donation to the foundation.  I made my donation in honor of one of my past patients that recently passed away.  His wife will receive notification that I made the donation in his honor and I know she will be pleased that I still think of him 3 years after being his chemotherapy nurse.

Elections will be held soon for the ONS Local offices and I was brave and nominated myself to hold the office of Secretary.....wish me luck. 

All in all it was an excellent nite, and I feel so proud to be a member of the chapter and encourage you to participate in your own local chapter.  The networking, professional development and learning oppurtunities are endless............and FUN.

Tell me something about one of your memorable chapter experiences?  

Excellence Awards

I just wanted to share with you some good news about my local chapter of ONS. The Middle Tennessee Chapter of ONS is among three chapters who proudly received the 2009 Chapter Excellence Award. We are very excited about this honor and wanted to encourage other chapters to apply for the award next year.  In order to be eligible, the chapter must demonstrate (on paper) how it has promoted the mission and goals of ONS. The application includes questions such as:

1. Describe how the chapter mentors new officers and develops leadership.
2. How has your chapter contributed to your community during 2007 2008?
3. How has your chapter recognized the contributions of chapter members to the chapter, national ONS, oncology nursing, and the profession of nursing during 2007 - 2008?

Similarly, the SIG excellence award is awarded much the same way and shares many similarities of the Chapter Excellence award application. And lastly, if you are interested in achieving excellence on a more individual level, there are Nurse Excellence Awards for many different oncology nursing specialties (e.g., BMT, Cancer Nursing Research, Nursing Informatics, Medical Oncology, Radiation Therapy, Patient/Public Education, Nursing Health Policy, Surgical Oncology, etc.)

If you are have any questions about the awards process please email Judy Stein, Chapter Administrative Assistant (jstein@ons.org) or Angie Stengel, Director (astengel@ons.org).  You may of course reply to this post to if you’d like additional information about the Middle Tennessee Chapter.