By Pam Bradshaw

ABOUT

The American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) is the national professional organization of the more than 10,000 nurse leaders who manage and provide patient care across the continuum. AONL provides leadership development, advocates for patients and nurses, and creates an inclusive community for nurses at every stage of leadership. AONL is an affiliate of the American Hospital Association.

ADVOCACY ACTIVITIES

• AONL President Mary Ann Fuchs, vice president of patient care and system chief nurse executive for Duke University Health System in Durham, N.C., testified March 9 before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee examining the COVID-19 response and challenges facing front-line providers. She stressed the need for resources to ensure an adequate workforce and to protect the physical and mental health of care providers.
• Nearly 240 nurse leaders, representing 36 states and the District of Columbia, attended AONL’s first virtual advocacy day on May 27. Attendees urged Congress to strengthen the nursing workforce, invest in nursing education infrastructure, support the mental health and resiliency needs of our clinicians, and expand telehealth to increase access to care. AONL’s 2022 advocacy day will be held June 8-9 in Washington, D.C.
• AONL hosted a convening for its state affiliate leaders and AHA’s state hospital association workforce group to discuss nursing shortages and state-level mandatory staffing efforts.

COLLABORATION

• AONL, Johnson & Johnson and the American Nurses Association have begun releasing the results of their nine-month Future of Nursing Listening Tour in June. The research focused on care delivery, organizational structure and the workforce of the future. As part of this work, the three organizations commissioned a market research study to understand the current state of the nursing profession amid the pandemic. Each organization will develop specific action steps to realize the recommendations that emerged from the report.
• Funded by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s Center for Regulatory Excellence, AONL continues to work with the George Washington School of Nursing to conduct a study exploring nurse leaders’ perceptions of patients’ use of medical cannabis. AONL nominated nurse leaders to participate in virtual focus groups followed by interviews, and they will launch a survey in July for deeper exploration on the topic.
• Funded by a grant from Johnson & Johnson, AONL developed Leadership Beyond the Pandemic: Care Delivery Innovations, a panel conversation and podcast series. The series highlights innovations in care delivery with creative adaptations in technology, job role redesign and community outreach. It also explores the lessons learned and adaptations proven effective to lower health care costs while providing quality care.
• The AONL and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Boards of Directors jointly convened to review work to date by the AACN/AONL Advisory Committee, including: the new essentials framework for nursing educational programs and to jointly develop priorities for future collaboration.

GOVERNANCE

AONL announced its 2021 call for nominations to serve on the AONL Board of Directors. AONL suspended its call for nominations in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, AONL made a number of changes to its bylaws in order to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in its board nominations and election process. June 10 is the application deadline.

EDUCATION AND RESOURCES

• Due to ongoing restrictions, AONL announced it will host its 2021 annual conference virtually July 13-14. Plenary speakers include author Doris Kearns Goodwin, Harvard professor and co-chair of the Future of Nursing Committee David R. Williams, nurse researcher Peter Buerhaus, and violinist and mental health advocate Vijay Gupta. AONL’s 2022 annual conference is scheduled for April 11-14 in San Antonio.
• AONL recently launched its two-day Developing the Leader Within program virtually for nurses who have leadership responsibilities but are not in positions with direct authority. The program teaches leadership skills, including emotional intelligence.
• In partnership with OneTeam Leadership and funded by a grant from Medtronic, AONL launched a three-month resilience program to help cohorts of 100 nurse leaders, primarily managers, focus on their own well-being and learn how to develop communities of healing for their teams.
• AONL will continue offering its three-day Nurse Manager Institute, a program teaching the basics of budgeting, leadership techniques and managing a nursing team, virtually in 2021.
• AONL launched its virtually facilitated Transition to Nurse Manager Practice program to help new nurse managers be successful in their new role.
• AONL released the findings of its longitudinal Nursing Leadership COVID-19 Study to compare the impact of the pandemic in key areas over time. The first survey, conducted in July 2020, followed the initial surge, while AONL fielded the second survey after the winter surge in February 2021. Nearly 2,500 nurse leaders completed the newest survey with findings indicating a change in the primary challenges nurse leaders faced since last summer: access to PPE improved while mental health and staffing issues have worsened.
• AONL’s monthly podcast, Today in Nursing Leadership, continues to cultivate a growing audience since launching last fall. The latest episodes explore delivering patient care through street-based nursing and a discussion about when the customer is not always right.

 SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS

• In recognition of National Nurses Week, AONL developed a social media campaign, transforming nurses into comic-book superheroes and concluding with a livestream comic showing the nurses transformed into superheroes.
• In celebration of National Hospital Week, AONL and the American Hospital Association collaborated with Musicians On-Call to create an original song and video honoring health care workers. Additionally, AONL and AHA jointly published ad blasts in Politico, Health Leaders Media and Washington Post recognizing National Nurses Week and National Hospital Week.
• AONL continues to support the COVID Vaccine Facts for Nurses campaign to boost vaccine confidence, provide resources for nurses to answer vaccine questions and videos promoting the COVID-19 vaccine.