Good Morning:
ARIN Board of Directors, ARIN’s Past Presidents, BMC Management Company and Fellow ARIN Members.
I am very excited to assume the role of ARIN’s President today. I appreciate the confidence you have in me in assuming this very important position. I am humbled and honored to represent Imaging nurses and guide ARIN forward. I have been privileged to work with this dedicated, talented, hardworking and committed Board for several years. They have worked tirelessly setting visionary goals towards a very bright future for our organization. It has been my privilege to serve alongside each of them! I would like to personally thank Cheryl Jaglowski-Ho for her dedication, vision and unwavering leadership. She has kept the Board on track and on task. ARIN has grown immensely under her tenure as President over the past two years. Please join me in recognizing her!!
I have several key focus points supporting ARIN’s mission of being the “World’s Premier Source for Imaging Nurses”. I believe in ARIN’s mission to Connect Imaging nurses across the globe. It is vital that we continue to Advance radiology and imaging nurses by sharing best practices and publications. It is important that ARIN continues to help educate, support and empower Imaging nurses across the world. We have strengthened our global outreach. We now have 77 international members representing Canada, Ireland, Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Israel, Guyana, United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago and Tanzania. THIS IS AMAZING!!!
A second key focus is to increase membership. I am happy to report currently there are over 2,000 members. We need to continue to recruit new nurses to the Imaging specialty. Most nurses do not understand what nurses do in the Imaging setting or what clinical opportunities there are. We need to be better at highlighting the nursing role and what clinical knowledge and skills are needed within the Imaging specialty. We must Promote as our Mission states - the face of Imaging nursing across all disciplines to make our presence known. With an aging nursing workforce, there must be plans to have nurses interested in this exciting and ever-changing specialty. It is important that nurses in other specialties know the role of an Imaging nurse. ARIN is currently developing education and training for the non-radiology nurse to provide information on diagnostic tests, procedures and patient care requirements.
My third key focus is education. To our new nurses in the Imaging setting we need to focus on YOU-making sure you have comprehensive and thorough orientations. We must mentor and guide you to ensure you are properly trained and oriented. We need to show you the benefits of being a member of ARIN. This is where you all come in-talk with your fellow nurses and help recruit them to join. We need to showcase and promote what resources are available along with the many educational opportunities. Important Member benefit is to having access to the Journal of Radiology Nursing (JRN) which continues to be a wonderful highly regarded source of education on varied topics. There are directed journal readings with CEU credits also. ARIN’s Newsletter recently renamed “Inside View” is filled with interesting information on topics affecting nurses today.
We need to Advance radiology and imaging nurses by sharing best practices, robust process improvement and publications. The updated website now makes it easier to see what’s new, ARIN resources, many educational topics with CEU credits and a transcript to help keep track of learning. It is important to promote the Radiology Nursing Certification and how ARIN can assist nurses in obtaining this goal. Currently there are 1,400 Certified Radiology nurses!! This is something we should be proud of! The goal for most institutions is to achieve Magnet status, nursing certifications is a vitally important requirement. The option of taking the computer-based Certification exam has been a long-awaited opportunity and is now available. The Imaging Review Course has been traditionally taught in person by our outstanding Master Faculty. There is now the option of an online version of the Imaging Review course offering 15.0 CEU’s. This will help reach more members who cannot travel for the course. There has been approximately 20 members to date who have taken advantage of this new opportunity. This will continue to be highlighted on the website. The Imaging review course continues to be sought after. It has also been held virtually to nurses in Saudi Arabia and the Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi.
It is also important that we embrace and utilize Social Media platforms to reach our members. With the help of Emily Gassman, ARIN’s new Social Media Coordinator, we now have the expertise to promote ARIN by utilizing Face Book, Twitter and LinkedIn to help reach and connect with our members. Stay tuned to see ARIN’s news and information through these platforms. You may have seen Emily here tweeting updates or live streaming from the conference. Look for her!
ARIN’s continued support of Rad Aid is vitally important in our worldwide outreach. Board member Sarah Wilson who is now in the role of President-Elect, had a volunteer opportunity as part of a Rad Aid initiative to travel along with a team from Yale to Tanzania, Africa. The mission was to help bring education, training, mentorship and support in the development of an IR program. Sarah was forever changed and impacted by this experience. We are so proud of her! We should encourage and support ARIN members to get involved and be a part of this wonderful opportunity to help Imaging nurses in countries that do not have the resources or state of the art technology that we are privileged to have.
It is imperative for ARIN to continue to form alliances with other Professional Organizations. This will bring ARIN to the table with other Nursing Professional Organizations like (ANA) American Nurses Association and the Nursing Alliance Leadership Academy (NALA). This will position ARIN as the Premier Organization for Imaging nurses and ensure we can have a voice in shaping the future of nursing. Being part of NALA helps to educate and train the Board members to be more cohesive and working as an effective Board in strategic planning. Members of the Board attend this every year and come away with increased knowledge, skills and enthusiasm.
I am happy to announce that an exciting opportunity is coming! The Board is planning the return of a Fall Symposium. This was a decision that required a lot of discussion and evaluation. It will be held September 26-29th in Columbus, Ohio. The plan is to provide 12.0 CEU credits, the IRC course and courses interested by our colleagues in AVIR as well. The goal is to provide education covering all modalities. Put the date in your calendars and share this with your fellow nurses. Please stay tuned for more information coming soon!!! I hope to see many of you there!
I want you to know that every member is very important to me. You make a difference to our patients every day. I encourage you all to advocate the importance of your roles and always strive for safe patient care. The patients we care for need all of you! Your voice and needs as members are also very important. Please let your voice be known to the ARIN Board. I encourage you to become involved. There are many opportunities that you can participate in. Consider participating in a task force or committee. If you are interested, please see any of the Board members who can steer you in the right direction. If you have ideas or suggestions, please let us know. The Board wants to establish goals and planning based on the needs of our members and the clinical requirements required in today’s health care climate.
You can always reach out to me directly via email as well. I am looking forward as I hope you are too, to the next chapter for ARIN and all the new exciting opportunities ahead. Thank you for the privilege to serve ARIN as President!!! Enjoy the rest of the conference and your time in Austin!!! Hope to see you all this fall in Columbus, Ohio and next year in Seattle, Washington.
