Publications
APS Bulletin • Volume 12, Number 4, July/August 2002
Special Interest Groups
David A. Williams, PhD, Department Editor
The Nursing Issues Special Interest Group:
An Update
Veronica B. Steffen, RN MSN CS
The Nursing Issues Special Interest Group (SIG), the largest of the APS SIGs, is growing on a yearly basis. More than 60 members attended the last Nursing Issues SIG meeting at the APS Annual Scientific Meeting in Baltimore.
Throughout the year, members of the Nursing Issues SIG from APS and nurses from the American Society of Pain Management Nurses (ASPMN) mutually contribute to the Nursing Issues SIG e-mail discussion group. The e-mail discussion group has been a valuable tool in enhancing pain management. There is a broad range of questions asked and topics discussed. Ethical dilemmas, clinical practice issues, institutional policies, media information, and research activities and findings are all shared by a variety of clinicians, administrators, educators, and researchers. Members also have been able to share evidence-based approaches to quality improvement challenges and issues involved with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations pain standards. Pain management issues throughout the country are being influenced by the exchange that takes place on this e-mail discussion group. Frustration, questions, and accomplishments are all shared.
A future networking method discussed by Nursing Issues SIG members at the annual meeting was having roundtable discussions at the APS annual meeting. Nursing Issues SIG members are planning to submit suggestions for interdisciplinary roundtable breakfast discussions for the 2003 meeting in Chicago.
Part of the discussion during the annual meeting was directed toward the fact that the annual ASPMN meeting and the APS meeting are both held in the spring of each year and compete for attendance. There was a survey taken to identify the perceived conflicts and receptivity to potential solutions. I hope there will be a way to increase opportunities for members to participate in both organizations. When the survey responses are tallied and decisions made, the information will be shared on the e-mail discussion group.
For questions, concerns, or suggestions about the Nursing Issues SIG, please contact one of the cochairs, Judy Dyer, RN MSN MA CS OCN, 781/756-7246, jdyer@winhosp.org, or Veronica Steffen, RN MSN CS, 513/861-3100 ext 4447, veronica.steffen@med.va.gov.
Veronica B. Steffen is clinical director of pain services, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.