Welcome to the 2024 AMSN Annual Convention! On Thursday, Sept. 12, hundreds of medical-surgical nurses kicked off a three-day gathering of learning and celebration in Toronto. The energy is high at the Sheraton Centre, from convention orientation all the way to the grand opening reception on day one. Whether you joined in on all the fun in person, have virtual access, or simply want to stay up to date with what’s happening in Toronto, read on for today’s recap.

Inspiring Words

Convention officially began with AMSN President Marisa Streelman, DNP, RN, CMSRN, NE-BC, delivering welcomes, opening remarks, and presenting key AMSN awards before we transitioning to 2025 AMSN Annual Convention Program Planning Committee Chair Stacy Chapman, MSN, RN, CMSRN, who took the stage to introduce opening keynote speaker Lee Rubin.

Rubin guided the audience in an interactive discussion about what it takes to build an extraordinary team. Through many laughs and references to “Remember the Titans”, Rubin explained the five Cs of creating an extraordinary team:

• Competitors
• Common Goal
• Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
• Chemistry
• Consistent

Rubin reminded the medical-surgical nursing community that teams exist to take on a challenge or opportunity that is too big for one person, sending convention attendees off into their first day of sessions with this powerful framework.

Concurrent Session Key Takeaways

Review some quick-hits from today’s sets of concurrent sessions:

• The presenter shared her experience of nurse-led research and developing a theory (The Steel Jacket) based on her interest in “seemingly random trauma”. She interviewed trauma subjects for the purpose of developing potential trauma prevention initiatives. Five themes emerged from a qualitative analysis of trauma patient interviews: being lost, self-blame, vigilance and fear, past trauma providing scaffolding to handle current trauma, and how a moment in time can change a life. (Novel Nursing Theory: Trauma Patients Existential Experience and the Impact of Empathic Nursing Care, Patricia J. (Patty) Bartzak, DNP, RN, TCRN, CNRN, CMSRN)
• Nursing leadership begins in academia, bridging the gap from theory to practice. Presenter Sonya Edwards also proposed that a healthcare facility task force committee could create a leadership program, perhaps using models of LEAP-IN or Benner’s Clinical Competency to develop the program. (Supporting Leadership Development in Medical-Surgical Nurses, Sonya Edwards and Emily Nobles)
• This presenter team shared “Discharge by Noon” strategies for the medical-surgical space, including: leveraging the night-shift team to begin preparing patients for discharge; streamlining communications; and creating a discharge lounge that is candidate-specific, metric-driven, staffed by “light duty” nurses, and comfortable and welcoming for patients. (Leaving Soon… Discharge by Noon, Ambili John and Aileen B. Mazurek)
• When considering a move to having a virtual nursing team, the staffing and the model you use is critical for the success of the pilot. You want nurses who not only have the clinical, bedside experience to be able to think critically and anticipate patient needs, but also nurses who are engaged, strong communicators. (Improving Patient Experience Through an Innovative Virtual Nursing Model, Lauren Crafton and Shanta Subedi)
• Providing a break to your nurses is crucial, but the kind of break matters. Focus on giving a break that is uninterrupted and really allows your nurses to recharge. Establish a plan for uninterrupted breaks with your team and stick to it! (The Impact of A Defined Uninterrupted Nursing Break: A Feasibility Study, Brendan Sickles and Olawunmi Obisesan)
• Oral care is crucial to the intervention for the aspiration pneumonia clinical care pathway. How often are we looking in patients’ mouths? Oral care should be done after every meal and before bedtime, but time and resources are limited. The presenter challenged attendees to think of alternate resources. Can unit reps or aids help provide patients’ oral care? Think differently about how you can provide this care. (Improving Patient Outcomes for Aspiration Pneumonia, Cristen Mackwell)

Live From Toronto

AMSN Annual Convention participants have a lot to say about their convention experience, their medical-surgical nursing career, and more. Here are the highlights from our conversations with attendees:

• AMSN Digital Content Committee Board Liaison Mark Lee, MS, BSN, RN, CMSRN, interviewed four first-time convention attendees to hear about their conference aspirations and why they love medical-surgical nursing. Read more from these attendees.
• “This being my first convention, I feel culture shocked. As a nurse, it’s awesome to see people networking, meeting new people, and seeing different aspects of nursing. We come from the clinic, so a lot of the stuff that I’ve seen, we’ve already done to a point or we haven’t put the pieces and parts together. It’s pretty cool to see.” —Jordan Poe, First-Time Attendee
• “Talk to everybody. Go to all of the things. Learn everything you can. Make sure you are connecting with people in the app so you can talk to them afterwards and share what you’ve learned, and learn more from them after the convention.” —Advice for first-time attendees from Monica van der Zee
• “It was such a lovely surprise. It was unexpected. When I look at the other fellows, I feel underserving, so it’s such an honor and a privilege to be considered among my peers and colleagues and to give back, to be recognized for service. AMSN has always been about nursing and service and spreading the news about med-surg nurses. To be a Fellow for that reason, for advancing that cause, has been particularly meaningful for me.” —Comments from new AMSN Fellow Terry Jones, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAMSN
• “I was very surprised. I feel very honored to be in that inaugural group of people and very humbled by my colleagues who have done such great work for AMSN and served the organization for so long. To be in that kind of a group is such a terrific honor for me … and I appreciate the fact that this service to the organization has been taken into account across the board. I am so honored.” —Comments from new AMSN Fellow Linda Yoder, PhD, MBA, RN, AOCN, FAAN, FAMSN

To round out attendee conversations, watch this special message from AMSN Board of Directors Secretary Patricia J. (Patty) Bartzak, DNP, RN, TCRN, CNRN, CMSRN, who shares why her medical-surgical nursing certification is a game changer:

What’s Next?

Did you have an energizing first day at #AMSN2024? The networking and education are only beginning. Day 2 begins with breakfast and poster viewing in the Exhibit Hall, the President’s Award presentation, and the AMSN Town Hall, followed by concurrent sessions and more.

Want to contribute an inspiring takeaway, comment, or topic you learned about at #AMSN2024? Contact AMSN Content Manager Morgan Manghera at mmanghera@amsn.org for your chance to be featured on the Monitor.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to AMSN Board of Directors and Digital Content Committee members Mark Lee, MS, BSN, RN, CMSRN, and Marie Mullins, BSN, RN, CMSRN, and AMSN Staff members Hannah Durnas and Kelly Hunt, MN, RN, CNL, for contributing to these daily recaps as convention reporters.