What I did at the Nursing Conference
A report on what I did October 4-7 at the Association for Rehabilitation Nurses' (ARN)Conference:
Wednesday, Oct. 4: This was actually the "preconference", but there was a workshop I wanted to attend called "Pain Management in Rehabilitation and Across the Continuum". However, the speaker who was supposed to give this talk wasn't able to arrive from Iowa due to the storms and so a couple of other nurses who frequently speak and have presented workshops on pain were asked to fill in. Unfortunately they were only given about 45 minutes to prepare, so the presentation didn't really have anything new to say that we weren't all taught in nursing school. Since this was my first professional conference, I wasn't sure what to expect and just went with the flow. After this workshop there was a "meeting" called Newcomer's Niche where we were able to meet the ARN president and the chair of our area as well as other first timers. Then I went to the exhibit hall opening to see what was going on and for appetizers. I also spent a little time in the poster room. There were 60 posters to be displayed, not all of them got there. For my continuing education credits (CEU's), I had to view 40 and evaluate them on a form they gave us. It gets a little overwhelming to read all of these, so I spent some of my free time over the next three days accomplishing this task. About 6 p.m. I headed out the door with another person from Marianjoy to walk to the train station and head home.
Thursday, Oct. 5: Up at 5 a.m. to catch the 6:07 train which takes about an hour to arrive in Chicago, then a 20 minute walk (3/4 mile) to the Palmer House Hotel where the conference is being held. Not a bad walk on a nice day--I wouldn't want to do it in the rain or snow. I really don't know how people can commute from Aurora to Chicago on a daily basis for work. Glad I don't have to do it. 8 a.m. was the Keynote Session with a very entertaining speaker. I believe this was also the day they started with a skit from a group from Comedy Sportz, an improvisational company in Chicago--somewhat of a knock-off of Second City and "Whose Line is it Anyway?". More on that later. The speaker is not a nurse, just a motivational speaker who travels around the country. After this I attended the first of four paper presentations from rehabilitation nurses who are doing research in various areas. There were four papers in each presentation. This one was about a program to help prevent falls, a program to prevent injuries, the impressions of a patient about the staff called "The Monkey's Cage"--apparently the staff are the monkeys, and how to do a web search for literature to support the practice of rehabilitation nursing. Then lunch. In the afternoon I attended a session given by the CEO of Marianjoy--and promptly fell asleep! Not a good thing to fall asleep when your CEO is speaking. Oh, well--I don't think she knows who I am anyway. After that--another set of papers. These were all about stroke patients--getting CARF certification (which we have and I don't have anything to do with it), patient responses to discharge instructions (how well they follow them after discharge--NOT), movement therapy for stroke patients, and water protocol for dysphagia patients (thick vs. thin liquids for people with trouble swallowing). Interesting theories here--we'll have to see if we can adopt any of these. Home again, home again, so very tired.
Friday, Oct. 6: I know 5 a.m. is a time of day--but way too early for someone who has reset their internal rhythms to work a p.m. shift! 8:30 was the founder's address--a male rehabilitation nurse since 1967 if I remember correctly. He spoke about inspiring hope in our patients and the value of "I hope. . ." vs. "Hopefully". I can provide you the outline of his speech if you are interested in more. Then more papers: more about stroke patients and their caregivers. Interesting studies and things to think about as I provide teaching for my patients and their families. Lunch. Then a presentation on safe patient handling which was basically an hour-long live commercial for lifting devices. These are good, if only our facility would utilize more of them. In the evening I went to the dinner symposium. There were more presentations on research being done and how to do it. I left at the break because I wanted to catch the 10:20 train home so I would be home by midnight instead of 2 a.m. Once I got to the station, I found a train leaving at 9:30, so was able to get home even earlier. Tim arrived home sometime after me from St. Louis and we talked a bit before crashing for the night.
Saturday, Oct. 7: I had set my alarm for 5:15, planning to leave the house at 5:45. When the alarm went off, I woke up enough to turn it off, but not enough to realize that sound meant I needed to get up. Tim had set his for 5:20 and turned it off, thinking mine was set for 5:30. He woke up again at 5:38 and realized I wasn't up yet and we both dressed quickly so he could take me to the train station. The plan was for him to come into the city later that day and we would go out for dinner and entertainment. I made the train station with plenty of time to spare--and about froze to death because the stations were not open on Saturday. So I sat out in the cold to wait for my train. The paper presentations I went to were more for the clinical educators, but I enjoyed them as well. I am hoping to move from floor nurse to education of some type in the next couple of years anyway, so I will need some of this information. Then I went to a presentation given by a stroke survivor. She was one of those patients who questions everything and tells you exactly what she will and will not do--one that some nurses find difficult but I actually enjoy because she had reasons why she made the decisions she did and wasn't just being obstinate. I encourage my patients to question the medications I bring them to make sure they are getting the correct ones and ask questions so they can make informed decisions about their care. This was probably the best and most entertaining presentation of the whole conference. Lunch. The last presentation was about the aging process and how dementia and disability are not necessarily to be expected as we get older. Then the closing address, which I don't remember much about right now.
Tim then picked me up in front of the hotel. He had purchased tickets to Comedy Sportz (see above) for the 8 p.m. show. I was done with the conference at 4:15, so we had plenty of time to scope out where the theater was and decide what we wanted to do for dinner. We parked the car in the general vicinity of the theater near the train and rode back to downtown to find something for dinner. The Italian restaurant we went to had too long of a wait, so we walked and didn't find much else open that we were appropriately dressed for at that time. So after about an hour of walking around, we went back to the car and found a little pizza place. Nothing special, but small and quiet and I enjoyed the time with my dear husband. Then we went to the theater. This apparently is a new, temporary space for them while their permanent space is being renovated and/or built. The premise is two teams of three people each compete in different improvisational sketches to see which "team" wins the trophy for the night. There is a referee who adds a bit of comedy to the action as well. A nice evening out. We have decided to make plans every couple of months or so to do something in the city. There is so much to do in Chicago that we haven't taken advantage of and just need to quit being so lazy and do something about it. I'd like to take the rest of the family to see this group or go to Second City sometime as well.
Anyway--that's my conference report. Better late than never I always say! Now it's time for Kalen, Matt and Ryan to update!
Wednesday, Oct. 4: This was actually the "preconference", but there was a workshop I wanted to attend called "Pain Management in Rehabilitation and Across the Continuum". However, the speaker who was supposed to give this talk wasn't able to arrive from Iowa due to the storms and so a couple of other nurses who frequently speak and have presented workshops on pain were asked to fill in. Unfortunately they were only given about 45 minutes to prepare, so the presentation didn't really have anything new to say that we weren't all taught in nursing school. Since this was my first professional conference, I wasn't sure what to expect and just went with the flow. After this workshop there was a "meeting" called Newcomer's Niche where we were able to meet the ARN president and the chair of our area as well as other first timers. Then I went to the exhibit hall opening to see what was going on and for appetizers. I also spent a little time in the poster room. There were 60 posters to be displayed, not all of them got there. For my continuing education credits (CEU's), I had to view 40 and evaluate them on a form they gave us. It gets a little overwhelming to read all of these, so I spent some of my free time over the next three days accomplishing this task. About 6 p.m. I headed out the door with another person from Marianjoy to walk to the train station and head home.
Thursday, Oct. 5: Up at 5 a.m. to catch the 6:07 train which takes about an hour to arrive in Chicago, then a 20 minute walk (3/4 mile) to the Palmer House Hotel where the conference is being held. Not a bad walk on a nice day--I wouldn't want to do it in the rain or snow. I really don't know how people can commute from Aurora to Chicago on a daily basis for work. Glad I don't have to do it. 8 a.m. was the Keynote Session with a very entertaining speaker. I believe this was also the day they started with a skit from a group from Comedy Sportz, an improvisational company in Chicago--somewhat of a knock-off of Second City and "Whose Line is it Anyway?". More on that later. The speaker is not a nurse, just a motivational speaker who travels around the country. After this I attended the first of four paper presentations from rehabilitation nurses who are doing research in various areas. There were four papers in each presentation. This one was about a program to help prevent falls, a program to prevent injuries, the impressions of a patient about the staff called "The Monkey's Cage"--apparently the staff are the monkeys, and how to do a web search for literature to support the practice of rehabilitation nursing. Then lunch. In the afternoon I attended a session given by the CEO of Marianjoy--and promptly fell asleep! Not a good thing to fall asleep when your CEO is speaking. Oh, well--I don't think she knows who I am anyway. After that--another set of papers. These were all about stroke patients--getting CARF certification (which we have and I don't have anything to do with it), patient responses to discharge instructions (how well they follow them after discharge--NOT), movement therapy for stroke patients, and water protocol for dysphagia patients (thick vs. thin liquids for people with trouble swallowing). Interesting theories here--we'll have to see if we can adopt any of these. Home again, home again, so very tired.
Friday, Oct. 6: I know 5 a.m. is a time of day--but way too early for someone who has reset their internal rhythms to work a p.m. shift! 8:30 was the founder's address--a male rehabilitation nurse since 1967 if I remember correctly. He spoke about inspiring hope in our patients and the value of "I hope. . ." vs. "Hopefully". I can provide you the outline of his speech if you are interested in more. Then more papers: more about stroke patients and their caregivers. Interesting studies and things to think about as I provide teaching for my patients and their families. Lunch. Then a presentation on safe patient handling which was basically an hour-long live commercial for lifting devices. These are good, if only our facility would utilize more of them. In the evening I went to the dinner symposium. There were more presentations on research being done and how to do it. I left at the break because I wanted to catch the 10:20 train home so I would be home by midnight instead of 2 a.m. Once I got to the station, I found a train leaving at 9:30, so was able to get home even earlier. Tim arrived home sometime after me from St. Louis and we talked a bit before crashing for the night.
Saturday, Oct. 7: I had set my alarm for 5:15, planning to leave the house at 5:45. When the alarm went off, I woke up enough to turn it off, but not enough to realize that sound meant I needed to get up. Tim had set his for 5:20 and turned it off, thinking mine was set for 5:30. He woke up again at 5:38 and realized I wasn't up yet and we both dressed quickly so he could take me to the train station. The plan was for him to come into the city later that day and we would go out for dinner and entertainment. I made the train station with plenty of time to spare--and about froze to death because the stations were not open on Saturday. So I sat out in the cold to wait for my train. The paper presentations I went to were more for the clinical educators, but I enjoyed them as well. I am hoping to move from floor nurse to education of some type in the next couple of years anyway, so I will need some of this information. Then I went to a presentation given by a stroke survivor. She was one of those patients who questions everything and tells you exactly what she will and will not do--one that some nurses find difficult but I actually enjoy because she had reasons why she made the decisions she did and wasn't just being obstinate. I encourage my patients to question the medications I bring them to make sure they are getting the correct ones and ask questions so they can make informed decisions about their care. This was probably the best and most entertaining presentation of the whole conference. Lunch. The last presentation was about the aging process and how dementia and disability are not necessarily to be expected as we get older. Then the closing address, which I don't remember much about right now.
Tim then picked me up in front of the hotel. He had purchased tickets to Comedy Sportz (see above) for the 8 p.m. show. I was done with the conference at 4:15, so we had plenty of time to scope out where the theater was and decide what we wanted to do for dinner. We parked the car in the general vicinity of the theater near the train and rode back to downtown to find something for dinner. The Italian restaurant we went to had too long of a wait, so we walked and didn't find much else open that we were appropriately dressed for at that time. So after about an hour of walking around, we went back to the car and found a little pizza place. Nothing special, but small and quiet and I enjoyed the time with my dear husband. Then we went to the theater. This apparently is a new, temporary space for them while their permanent space is being renovated and/or built. The premise is two teams of three people each compete in different improvisational sketches to see which "team" wins the trophy for the night. There is a referee who adds a bit of comedy to the action as well. A nice evening out. We have decided to make plans every couple of months or so to do something in the city. There is so much to do in Chicago that we haven't taken advantage of and just need to quit being so lazy and do something about it. I'd like to take the rest of the family to see this group or go to Second City sometime as well.
Anyway--that's my conference report. Better late than never I always say! Now it's time for Kalen, Matt and Ryan to update!
posted by Nurse Penguinladi @ 12:07 PM
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