MASNRN:

MASNRN Spring 2013 Newsletter

Date posted: May 9, 2013

Dear MASNRN Members,

Enjoy this latest update on MASNRN activities.

MASNRN By-Laws: Over the past year, the current Board members of MASNRN have been addressing a primary goal of becoming a 501(c)3 organization. To this end, MASNRN has written By-Laws that have been accepted by the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office, and we have received our Certification as a corporation. Another aspect of this application requires MASNRN to clearly define and elect a Board of Directors (BOD); the BOD has been outlined as a maximum of 16 members, 2/3 of whom must be school nurses and the remainder of which are parents, nurse researchers, and educators. MASNRN members recently received an electronic ballot and 44 members voted to elect a new Board of Directors. From this slate, the BOD elected Mary Jane O’Brien as President, Laura White as Secretary, and Judy Aubin as Treasurer. Other BOD members are Catherine Alix, Carol Bradford, Laurette Hughes, Lynne McIntyre, Kathy O’Neill, Diane Schneider, Anne Sheetz, and Jennifer Spina. The BOD were excited at the high response rate from the membership, and hope this is indicative of your interest in pursuing school nurse led research.

 Office of President-elect: There remains an opening for the office of President-elect within the MASNRN organization. The bylaws state that, “the President-elect shall act for the President in her/his absence, and in case of death or resignation of the President. The President-elect shall succeed her/him for the unexpired term, and then shall serve the term for which she/he was elected.  If, for any reason, the President-elect cannot serve her/his term or fulfill the duties of the office, her/his successor shall be elected at the June meeting of MASNRN”.

The person in office as the President-elect succeeds the President after the President’s term; this would occur in the Spring of 2015 when the current President’s term expires. If anyone is interested in running for the office of President-elect, please let someone know who is on the BOD. There will be more discussion around this issue at the next BOD meeting in June, 2013. We will keep you posted.

Update on the 501(c)3 application: MASNRN is in the final phase of the 501(c)3 application for non-profit status. It is our hope that this designation will enable us to apply for grant funding for future research studies. An exciting opportunity is an upcoming Robert Wood Johnson grant targeting childhood obesity and school nurse led initiatives to reduce obesity levels. We plan to apply for this grant and hope to be one of the recipients. We’ll let you know how it works out!

Standing Committees: According to the new By-laws, “the BOD will establish Standing Committees to facilitate its mission and projects”…and “the President, with the approval of the BOD, shall appoint the chairperson of each of the Standing Committees”. The Standing Committees include: Finance, Public Relations, Newsletter/Outreach, Education, Nominating/Membership, Website Management, and Opportunities for Research. The Chairperson of each Standing Committee shall be a member of the BOD and the membership is encouraged to join these committees. If you have an area of expertise and wish to become more involved in MASNRN, we urge you to come forward and volunteer for one of the Standing Committees. Currently our most urgent need is an updated website. Participation on a Standing Committee would not involve attending each meeting of the BOD so we hope you will consider this opportunity.

NASN Conference 2013: In June, the National Association of School Nurses will hold it’s 45th annual conference in Orlando, Florida. Once again, MASNRN members will be presenting during the conference.

NASN conference planners asked MASNRN to fill a late opening in their presentation schedule. MASNRN took this opportunity to create a presentation highlighting the results of our most recent study related to food allergy trainings at schools. Laura White, Judy Aubin and Nancy Dorrance will be presenting the results of the MASNRN research study on the “Effectiveness of a Computer Based Module to Augment the Education of School Staff in the Management of Students with Life Threatening Food Allergies”.

Mary Jane O’Brien will be presenting her dissertation study entitled “The associations of the School Wellness Policy and school nurse activities to the weight status of Massachusetts Schoolchildren”. The results will be shared with MASNRN members at the next educational program.

We hope if you are attending the conference you will be able to attend these two sessions.

 Publications: Congratulations to Mary Jane O’Brien and Marie DeSisto for their publications in the most two recent issues of NASN School Nurse. Hopefully you have had a chance to read these very informative articles.

Every Study Begins With a Query, How to Present a Clear Research Question Vol. 28 no. 2 p 83-85

Advocating for Access to Evidence-Based Practice in School Health Vol. 28 no. 3 p 147-150

 New Studies: MASNRN member Adria Pavletic is interested in a study looking at high school nurses interventions with high school students who visit the health office frequently but whose presenting complaints are not supported by the clinical findings during the visit. Adria met with the Board this spring to discuss her ideas for developing this research topic.   We look forward to assisting her as she moves forward with her study.

Calendar

MASNRN schedule of upcoming meetings are as follows:

Date	Time	Place
June 12, 2013	5:30-7:30 p.m.	Harvard Pilgrim Route 9 and 95 (128)
August 2, 2013	9 a.m.-12 noon	Either Harvard Pilgrim (if available) or Foxboro – will send an email when location confirmed!

 

Communication: Our website is currently in need of updating. Please bear with us as we work to create a site that will better meet the needs of our members. Do you have a particular skill in this area, or possibly know someone who does? We would love your help! Please contact Mary Jane O’Brien if you have any questions or would like to volunteer. mobrien@boston.k12.ma.us.

WWW.MASNRN.ORG

 

Tags: 501c(3), MASNRN BOD, MASNRN Officers, NASN, National Association of School Nurses, non-profit