End of term reflection from the President

As my term comes to an end, I am so proud of all the accomplishments we have had this past year and look forward to all that will continue with our incoming President, AJ Stephens. Despite all the challenges we faced with staffing shortages, COVID surges, violence in the workplace, and the political divides in our country, we achieved so much as a professional organization. I am most proud of all the strategic goals we achieved and our representation professionally:

• Our first annual report
• Determining the definition of a Nurse Leader
  • Publishing the definition in the Nurse Leader
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
• Members involvement at the national level with AONL
• TONL Annual Conference virtually with 230 attendees
• TONL Excellence in Leadership Award
  • Dr. Rebecca Geist, Associate Professor at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
• AONL breakout session and poster presentations by TONL members and our Region 8 representative, Pam Bradshaw’s work on the AONL Education Committee
• Shared education events amongst Chapters
• Chapter Leader Orientation
• Mentoring Program
• Increase in number of volunteers for our committees to meet the strategic goals
• Partnership with the Texas Board of Nurses to review and provide input on the recommendations about transitioning into practice for Texas nurses

I am extremely excited that we were asked by AONL President-Elect to present our best practices on the October AONL Affiliate meeting. We will highlight our work with the TBON, shared education model, new chapter leader orientation, and the role of the Nurse Executive Resident. I want to thank our board members who provided articles for our monthly newsletter, Thank you for your commitment to our profession by being involved and engaged at the local, state, and national level. Together we can truly achieve our mission of advocating and influencing exceptional care delivery in Texas!