Dear Colleagues,

As we approach the season of gratitude, I want to take a moment to reflect on the tremendous work we've accomplished together and to express my deepest thanks to each of you. The commitment and passion Massachusetts nurses bring to our profession inspire me daily. Your dedication is the backbone of healthcare in our state, and for that, I extend my heartfelt appreciation.

This year, the American Nurses Association Massachusetts (ANAMASS) has been hard at work advocating for our profession and ensuring the voices of nurses are heard. We continue to champion important issues such as nursing workforce sustainability, equitable educational opportunities, and pathways for professional growth. From fundraising and administering nursing scholarships through our charitable arm, FNAMA, delivering advanced educational programs, to strengthening workforce development initiatives, ANAMASS remains committed to supporting nurses at all stages of their careers.

For those of you who are not yet members or who haven't been active lately, I encourage you to join us. Now, more than ever, your voice is needed to help shape the future of nursing in Massachusetts. By becoming involved in ANAMASS, you will have the opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals, advance your career, and participate in decisions that impact the future of nursing. Whether it's through attending our conferences, engaging in advocacy efforts, or applying for scholarships like those offered through the Foundation for Nursing Advancement in Massachusetts (FNAMA), your participation strengthens our collective voice.

As we look toward the future, I'd like to take a moment to ask you to consider donating to FNAMA (www.fnama.org). Every contribution helps fund scholarships and grants that support the next generation of nurses, ensuring that our future colleagues are equipped with the education and tools they need to succeed. With your support, we can continue to expand opportunities for aspiring nurses to pursue their dreams and strengthen the profession for years to come.

As we enter the holiday season, I want to wish you and your loved ones a season filled with joy, peace, and relaxation. However you celebrate, I hope the holidays offer you time to recharge and reflect on the incredible work you've done this year.

Thank you once again for your continued dedication to nursing. I look forward to our shared journey as we continue to make a difference for nurses and healthcare in Massachusetts.

With gratitude and warm holiday wishes,

Silda Melo, MSN, RN, CCM

President, American Nurses Association Massachusetts

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing wants YOU, as a licensed Registered Nurse, to know about your NCSBN ID. The NCSBN ID is a unique nurse identifier (UNI) assigned to every nurse upon initial licensure with any U.S. Board of Nursing (BON). The ID is associated with a nurse's licensure history (including other state jurisdictions and different license types i.e. APRN) and disciplinary history through the state BON's. It's the only UNI for all U.S. nurses and allows concise communication among systems while still protecting a nurse's personal identifiable information (PII).

RN licensure information can be found through Nursys, a national database run by NCSBN as a matter of public record. Patients already have the ability to look up their nurses' licenses and career history. Transparency in licensing demonstrates professional recognition to the public, ensures that nurses are qualified to provide safe and competent care, and prevents unqualified nurses from practicing.

According to Health Leaders, "The NCSBN ID can help health systems with screening and verification, and to make sure that nurses are keeping their licenses up to date...the ID can be used to improve quality and training over time, and to quantify the value of nursing."

Having a UNI is useful for accurate workforce data, capturing the economic value of nursing, and to facilitate mobility of the nursing workforce, both in state and out of state. The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity, identifies that nursing's impact on patient outcomes (both individually and collectively) needs to be tracked. Along with passage of the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) in Massachusetts, it will facilitate Massachusetts employer's ability to verify RN licensure status upon hiring and annually, preventing unlicensed individuals from practicing. Passage of the NLC would also facilitate the ability for Massachusetts RN's to practice telehealth, job mobility, and to volunteer in times of emergency such as the recent hurricanes.

For a detailed comparison of national nurse identifier systems, please take a look at An overview and policy implications of national nurse identifier systems: A call for unity and Integration.

How can an organization serve so many generations of nurses? Given the changing face of the nursing workforce, this question comes to mind. Is the organization focused on new nurses, seasoned nurses, administrators, educators, front-line nurses, or specialty nurses? Some might comment that a nurse is a nurse is a nurse is a nurse, yet nursing as a heterogeneous profession, should take issue with this.

There is a progression in nursing that allows for ongoing development for all: from student nurse to seasoned, from generalist to specialist, from the front-line nurse to administrator or educator. One of the most valuable things about a professional organization such as ANAMASS is the ability to provide a forum, a meet-up, a coalition, and a space for nurses of all types to come together to share information, encourage and solve problems, thus taking advantage of the various perspectives available to all.

If a seasoned nurse struggles with technology or a newer nurse faces the first patient death -- the support given from one to the other is invaluable. Retired nurses are the "brain trust" of the profession and history holders, the loss of which would be regrettable and is avoidable. It is within the ANAMASS that we can hold the hearts of the new with the experience of the old and in doing so strengthen the whole.

Content integrity is a critical component of approved nursing professional development activities. A rigorous review by the nurse planner intends to ensure all educational offerings are free of commercial support. This gives participants confidence that the information provided is not a means of promoting products or services used on or consumed by patients or clients. In addition, unbiased content that is current and relevant provides a valid return on the investment for the learner who is dedicating time to the educational program. Nurses, after all, value their time as a commodity to be carefully utilized. Only a clinical program requires a review of the financial relationship status for all those in a position to control content. The planning committee members, speakers, presenters, authors, content experts, and the nurse planner must disclose any financial relationship. The nurse planner determines whether the relationship is relevant to the topic. Non-clinical programs that have nothing to do with patients, clinical care, or treatments are not reviewed for financial relationships. Non-clinical topics include leadership issues, ethics, professional topics, technology such as AI, computer updates, medical record requirements, etc. A program is clinical if it has to do with patient care or has the potential to have a commercial bias element, more specifically if it has to do with items used on or consumed by patients (medical equipment or pharmaceuticals, for example).

Clinical program examples: Any disease or treatment, falls, medication interactions, nutritional interventions, physical therapy techniques etc.

Non-clinical program examples: how to use the new medical record, leadership, communication, stress management, discussion of emotional response to tough patient care, care for caregivers, etc.

If the planning committee is unclear as to the nature of the content, i.e., clinical vs. nonclinical, the review should be treated as clinical, and all those with control of content should be evaluated for relevant financial relationships. The appropriate disclosures should be made to the audience prior to the beginning of the program.

A sticky, humid morning roused us from

our sleep, the waves curling and clapping beyond the

living room windowsill. White sands turn rocky

as we climbed on our bicycles and rolled off to the cliff.

Our breaths were in rhythm, the cadence of

our hearts and legs pumping down the coast of Maine.

Our small hamlet opened to a tree-lined main

drag and we pushed on, sweat beading from

our backs, a tugging reminder that pulsed with the heat of

the rising sun. A tiny white glimmer caught the

periphery of my vision, a small flutter greeting us at the cliff.

I thought you saw it, too, as we climbed to the rocky

shore of Proust’s Neck. Here the waves slammed the rocky

beachfront, an oceanic cacophony that amplifies Maine’s

soundtrack. We set out on foot to hike the cliffs,

through thickets and briars and puckerbrush. From

the dark slivers of the distant islets to the

bobbing lobster buoys, the gentle flapping of

the white moth’s paper wings followed us. Of

the brash, gilded mansions we barely spoke – the rocky

crags of the beach were more welcoming… you set the

pace in front while I hung back. Maine

opened herself to us that morning, a blossoming from

a different sort of flower, one that only exists on a craggy cliff.

I watched as you hiked through another patch, the cliff

path veering this way and that, branches of

white birch reaching out towards you. From

the outermost edge we watched the horizon sprawl, the rocky

trail forked and lured us on. Maine’s

coastal moths, they say, can recognize the

love felt between two souls. But I’d guess the

moth who followed us up on the cliff

walk that morning recognized more than one main

emotion, but a deep and unwavering foundation of

admiration and wonder. Our rocky

hike was turning yet again as we looked down the path, where we came from.

What makes your membership in your professional organization valuable to you? Is there anything that would make membership more valuable? Please share your ideas by emailing newsletter@anamass.org.

It's important that professional organizations retain the wisdom of their members and that retired members continue to contribute to our profession in the ways that they would like.

We will share your ideas in the next issue.

Why Retire?: Career Strategies for Third Age Nurses 1st Edition

by Fay L. Bower (Author), Ph.D. Sadler, William A. (Author), Peter Buerhaus (Foreword)

Sigma Theta Tau Intl; 1st edition (2009)

Redefining Retirement for Nurses

by Joanne Evans and Patricia Tabloski

Sigma Theta Tau Intl; 1st edition (2018)

The Fourth Quarter of Your Life: Embracing What Matters Most

by Matthew Kelly and Allen R. Hunt  | Dec 29, 2022

As my co-chair of the Health Policy Committee, Myra Cacace, and I neared the end of this latest Massachusetts 193rd legislative session, we said to each other "OK, what's next"? What's next is preparing for 2025 and the beginning of the next two-year session!

We met with our engaged legislative committee over the past couple of months to discuss possible initiatives along with Ben Fierro, our incomparable lobbyist associate. We have a few ideas and will be meeting soon with our Board of Directors to finalize our Legislative Agenda, so look for that in the next newsletter.

We're also planning two events, one focusing generally and one more specifically on nurse advocacy to provide nurses in Massachusetts with opportunities to both learn new information and gain additional skills in working with employers and legislators. The first will be held in early spring 2025 and this educational forum will include information on how nurses function in health care settings to both improve health care and reduce overall health care costs. It's time we both recognize our value in the health care arena and learn how to communicate that value to others.

The second event will take place in September at the Statehouse on Beacon Street in Boston -- our Lobby Day held every two years to directly communicate with our state legislators and their staff. We will have an introductory speaker to help us learn how to lobby effectively and then review specific legislative bills that form the care of our legislative agenda. Following this, groups of nurses will fill the halls of the Statehouse with an experienced nurse leader to visit specific legislative offices and advocate for our chosen bills, thereby improving their chances for passage. Nurses who have attended one of our Lobby Days have become enthused about their ability to speak to those who have the power to create our laws. So we're hoping we can see you at one, or maybe both of these learning opportunities. We're looking forward to seeing you there!

It is recognized that the National League for Nursing (NLN) began in 1893 with the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools of Nursing organization at the World Fair in Chicago (NLN, 2024). This was nursing's first association and gave rise to others around the country, including New England. In 1912, the name was changed at the annual meeting in Chicago to the National League for Nursing Education (NLNE), bylaws were reviewed, and officers were elected (McKechnie, 1912). Nurses in attendance were from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, and Connecticut, and discussed current issues in education and the importance of organized educational institutions --- prestige, economy, efficiency, enthusiasm, and power. After the meeting the common goal for NLNE was cited as, "Better schools, better nurses, better service" by Isabel McIsaac, Superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps. This supported sentiments previously echoed regarding organization: educational standards and uniform curriculum, better working conditions and pay, adhering to ethics, and networking (Davis, 1912).

MARILN has evolved with the times, while staying true to its roots. While earlier nurse leaders such as Sally Johnson and Josephine Thurlow advocated for nurse pay and better working conditions, educated the public on health issues related to breast feeding, tuberculosis and polio, strived for ethical standards and uniform curriculum, and hoped to advance nursing education, today's MARILN nurse educators are privileged to be in similar company.

To advance education, MARILN offers biannual educational conferences with high-quality speakers on current trends. In response to scheduling demands and to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual and hybrid offerings have increased. To further the profession, MARILN offers a year-round mentorship program for novice faculty to familiarize them with the teaching, scholarship, and service applications for a new faculty (MARILN, n.d.). MARILN has a relationship with state agencies and has established a collaboration with the Organization of Nurse Leaders to advance the position of its membership. This partnership was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic when leaders mutually advocated for new nurse transition to practice (Waddell et al., 2020). Two past presidents have been recognized by the NLN for excellence: Nancy Phoenix-Bittner (2010) and Cheryl Williams (2021).

Past leaders perhaps could not have envisioned current issues such as artificial intelligence, diversity, or Next-Gen questions, however, they created the foundation and pillars for educational excellence. MARILN started as an educational affiliation league with a president from MGH and is moving into this new year with a new president from MGH, Rachael Salguero. A century later, change is on the horizon...Where will we go from here?