AMSN Practice Partners

 AMSN Partnerships for Medical-Surgical Nursing Practice

AMSN works with several partners to improve the work environment and practice setting for medical-surgical nurses. Through these collaborations, AMSN represents its members on activities intended to improve your work environment, body of knowledge and to contribute to the specialty of medical-surgical nursing.

We're Proud to Be a Part of These Initiatives

American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN)

ASPEN is dedicated to improving patient care by advancing the science and practice of clinical nutrition and metabolism. Founded in 1976, ASPEN is an interdisciplinary organization whose members are involved in the provision of clinical nutrition therapies, including parenteral and enteral nutrition.

In late 2019, an inter-organizational, interdisciplinary workgroup led by ASPEN was formed to develop best practices around NG feeding tube placement and verification for the adult patient. This project is the adult patient version of the New Opportunities for Verification of Enteral tube Location (NOVEL) project, which is run and monitored by a group of dedicated researchers, educators, and clinicians, including physicians. AMSN is pleased to participate in this important workgroup and will share updates as they become available.
 

Clinician Well-Being (NAM)

In 2017, the National Academy of Medicine launched the Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience, a network of more than 60 organizations committed to reversing trends in clinician burnout. The Collaborative has three goals:
 

1. Raise the visibility of clinician anxiety, burnout, depression, stress, and suicide
    
2. Improve baseline understanding of challenges to clinician well-being
    
3. Advance evidence-based, multidisciplinary solutions to improve patient care by caring for the caregiver.

The Action Collaborative is composed of six working groups that will meet over the course of four years to identify evidence-based strategies to improve clinician well-being at both the individual and systems levels.

AMSN strongly supports nurse well-being and healthy practice environments. We are a network organization of the Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience and submitted a commitment statement to the NAM. AMSN will continue to keep members posted on the work of this action collaborative and share resources and news.

Fuld Institute for Evidence Based Practice (EBP)

In 2016, The Ohio State University College of Nursing received a $6.5 million gift from the Helene Fuld National Health Trust to create the Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice (EBP) in Nursing and Healthcare. The Fuld Institute for EBP is a national hub for the formation, teaching and dissemination of best practices to improve healthcare quality, safety, costs and patient outcomes. Its cores include transdisciplinary clinical practice, academics, consumer education and EBP implementation science.

AMSN has partnered with the Fuld Institute to conduct a study on the current state of EBP among AMSN members. This important research study will inform AMSN and the nursing profession about the specific opportunities and challenges that medical-surgical nurses encounter when implementing EBP within their practice settings. 

Future of Nursing (NAM)

In 2009, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation partnered with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to produce The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, which set a vision for nursing in 2020. The authoring committee produced a set of recommendations for the field of nursing and it provided a blueprint for improving nurse education; ensuring that nurses can practice to the full extent of their education and training; providing opportunities for nurses to assume leadership positions; and improving data collection for policymaking and workforce planning. A variety of current and emerging issues influence the field of nursing, from ongoing health care reform and integration of new technologies to patient-centered care to respect for the profession and its expertise, merit exploration and consideration in setting national priorities for the next ten years.

Through the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly the IOM, an expert committee will extend the vision for the nursing profession into 2030 and chart a path for the nursing profession to help our nation create a culture of health, reduce health disparities, and improve the health and well-being of the U.S. population in the 21st century. The committee will examine the lessons learned from the Future of Nursing Campaign for Action as well as the current state of science and technology to inform their assessment of the capacity of the profession to meet the anticipated health and social care demands from 2020 to 2030.

AMSN supports the work of the NAM and contributes through its legislative team. AMSN provided testimony at the kick-off meeting for the Future of Nursing initiative and has provided public comments or written comments to each of the town halls held around the country. Watch her presentation to the committee here.

Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative

The Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative (MQii) is a multi-year effort that began in 2013 when a variety of stakeholder organizations began to highlight gaps in existing malnutrition care and the impact of these gaps on patient outcomes. Based on the results of subsequent literature reviews, landscape assessments, engagements with key stakeholders, and best practices research, the MQii was established in partnership with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Avalere Health, and other stakeholders providing guidance through key technical expert and advisory roles. The engagement was undertaken to advance evidence-based, high-quality patient-driven care for hospitalized older adults (age 65 and older) who are malnourished or at-risk for malnutrition. Support for the MQii was provided by Abbott.

AMSN participates in the Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative through an appointed AMSN member participating on its advisory committee. The 2020 MQii Advisory Committee guides the advancement of evidence-based, high-quality nutrition care for those who are malnourished or at nutritional risk across the healthcare continuum. AMSN will share information and outputs from this committee as they become available. 

Nurses on Boards Coalition

Nurses on Boards Coalition (NOBC) was created in response to the landmark 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, which recommended increasing the number of nurse leaders in pivotal decision-making roles on boards and commissions that work to improve the health of everyone in America. The mission of the NOBC is to improve the health of communities through the service of nurses on boards. The Nurses on Boards Coalition first convened in 2014, and later that year publicly announced its partnership and goal to help ensure that at least 10,000 board seats were filled by nurses by 2020.

Now that the Coalition’s initial key strategy to ensure that at least 10,000 board seats are filled by nurses has been achieved, NOBC can now leverage this collective accomplishment to measure the impact of nurses on boards and raise broader awareness that all boards would benefit from the unique perspective of nurses to achieve the goals of improved health and efficient and effective health care systems at the local, state, and national levels. AMSN is an organizational member of NOBC and holds a seat on the Board of Directors.

Opioid Epidemic (NAM)

Every day, an estimated 130 Americans die from an opioid overdose – a grim statistic that has devastated families and communities around the nation. Due to the complex and urgent nature of the epidemic, reversing the opioid crisis will require a multi-sectoral and multi-pronged response; no organization, government agency, or sector can solve this crisis on its own. To improve coordination and accelerate the pace of change, the National Academy of Medicine partnered with the Aspen Institute and more than 60 participants across the different sectors to form the Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic, representing critical stakeholder organizations across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The Action Collaborative is committed to developing, curating, and disseminating multi-sector solutions designed to reduce opioid misuse and improve outcomes for individuals, families, and communities affected by the opioid crisis.

AMSN is a network organization of the Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic and submitted a commitment statement to the NAM. This action collaborative is aligned with AMSN’s policy agenda, which notes the opioid crisis as an advocacy priority for AMSN. We will continue to support efforts to combat this devastating disease, which significantly impacts individuals, families and communities.
 

University of Kansas School of Nursing and the International Society for Professional Identity in Nursing

In September 2018 the University of Kansas School of Nursing invited a diverse group of stakeholders to meet, think and plan together about forming and fostering professional identity. The fourth of four recommendations from the 2010 Carnegie Foundation report on Preparing the Professions called for nursing to shift from an emphasis on socialization and role-taking to an emphasis of formation (Benner, et al., 2010). Of the four recommendations, this is the most underdeveloped nearly 10 years later. It is time for nursing to hear the conversation in other disciplines about this topic and adopt language and structures to form and foster professional identity in regulatory, educational and practice environments for the good of the discipline.

In 2019, a second think tank was held at the University of Kansas, School of Nursing to continue the work of the first convening. AMSN participated in this think tank with Robin Hertel, AMSN President, and Terri Hinkley, AMSN CEO, attending and participating in the think tank. Since that time, Robin Hertel has continued to participate through her involvement in a committee group on definitions/competencies for professional identity and Terri Hinkley is a co-chair of the dissemination committee. AMSN will continue to share information on this important initiative with its members.

Wolters Kluwer

Brought to you by Wolters Kluwer, a leading provider of trusted content and professional solutions for practicing nurses, Lippincott® Solutions is a point-of-care workflow solution comprised of Lippincott Procedures, Lippincott Advisor, and Lippincott Professional Development.

Created by nurses for nurses, Lippincott Solutions helps healthcare organizations optimize nursing performance, increase clinical knowledge, standardize care, promote staff competence, and improve patient outcomes. Lippincott Solutions' online evidence-based learning tools support your nurses’ professional development needs by keeping them current on the most recent evidence and standards.

AMSN, through a partnership with Wolters Kluwer, Health provides clinical experts to review and update Lippincott Procedures in the specialty of medical-surgical nursing.