Clinical Nurse Leader Summit 2015
The 2015 Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) Summit was held January 22-24, 2015 in Orlando, Florida. The theme of the conference was Clinical Nurse Leaders: A Value-based Investment for Achieving Quality Outcomes. The CNL Summit, which is sponsored by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), provides a forum for practice and education partners to share information on the value added by CNLs to our national healthcare environment.
In addition to the CNL Summit, a pre-conference CNL Research Symposium provides educators, practicing CNLs, students, nurse executives and healthcare administrators the opportunity to explore and understand the CNL’s role in effective use of data in research and clinical outcomes improvement efforts. The CNL Research Symposium is co-sponsored by the Commission on Nurse Certification (CNC) and the Clinical Nurse Leader Association (CNLA).
Dr. Donna Gage, Chief Nursing Officer for the VA, was an invited keynote speaker for the CNL Summit. Her remarks entitled A Look Ahead from the New Leadership at the Veterans Health Administration, highlighted the sustained growth of certified CNLs in the VA workforce, and provided examples of the contributions of CNLs to improved quality, safety, efficiency, and cost avoidance in VA healthcare delivery.
Dr. Pat Quigley, Associate Director of the VISN 8 Patient Safety Center of Inquiry at the James A. Haley VAMC in Tampa, Florida was the opening speaker for the CNL Research Symposium. Her presentation entitled, Developing and Sustaining a Culture of Inquiry: Creating the Pathway for Evidence-based Practice, inspired participants to embed quality improvement and program evaluation into practice, understand and apply evidence grades to practice, and generate opportunities to integrate inquiry into practice.
CNL Summit podium presentations highlighted CNL practice integration and development in 14 distinct health care systems across public and private sector venues. Podium presentations included thirteen accepted abstracts from VA nurses representing approximately one-third of the presentations. Eleven abstracts from VA nurses were also accepted for poster presentation. One of the poster presentations, submitted by Joletta Phillips, a practicing CNL at the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, described how CNL practice promoted continuous quality improvement and professional practice during a period of Nurse Manager turnover on her unit.
Dr. Karen Ott, Director for Policy, Education, and Legislation in the Office of Nursing Services, VA Headquarters, and Kimberly Kirkpatrick, Clinical Educator Primary Care and certified CNL at the Portland VAMC were members of the 2015 CNL Summit Planning Committee. Mary Mather, Nurse Manager and certified CNL at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System served on the CNL Research Symposium planning committee. The 2016 CNL Summit and CNL Research Symposium will be held in Long Beach, CA next January.
