2024 AMSN Annual Convention: Memories
Our first international medical-surgical nursing convention for AMSN took place this month in Toronto, Canada. I was so excited to be able to connect with colleagues I had not seen in many years and meet new med-surg nurses who are just starting out on their nursing careers!
The city of Toronto was welcoming, energizing, active, and full of life. There was something for everyone to enjoy in and around the city. The AMSN Annual Convention also had something for everyone. From the opening speaker, Lee Rubin, telling us about the five Cs of teamwork, through our AMSN Founders Award winner and speaker Dr. Ernest Grant, giving us an update on the many ANA activities. The AMSN Town Hall session with directors from the AMSN Board, Dr. Kristi Campoe and Michael Szeliga, was a great opportunity to hear from our members on nurses as innovators, advocates, and agents of change. We had nurse expert, Michael Urton, provide an update on pain management strategies and assessments. Lastly, we ended with Donna Cardillo, and the impact of positive language and being an active part of your profession and specialty.
Opening keynote speaker Lee Rubin
AMSN Founders Award winner Dr. Ernest Grant and AMSN President Marisa Streelman
AMSN Town Hall Session with Dr. Kristi Campoe and Michael Szeliga
In between all of the great general sessions and keynote speakers, there were so many great concurrent sessions full of medical-surgical content for everyone to bring a piece back to their units to put into practice. There were sessions on leadership, virtual nursing, certification, and well-being. The session presenters were med-surg nurses, educators, and leaders from all over the country who practice in many different settings.
We launched our AMSN Fellows program to honor nurses who have supported medical-surgical nursing and given their time, energy, knowledge, and expertise to AMSN throughout the years. Our inaugural 10 AMSN Fellows include: AMSN First President Dr. Alice Poyss; and Past Presidents Kathleen Singleton, Kathleen Reeves, Dr. Jill Arzouman, Robin Hertel, Dr. Linda Yoder; and Dr. Heather Craven, Dr. Dottie Roberts, Dr. Terry Jones, and Cora Palmer. The Fellows are all distinguished AMSN volunteers who advocate to set medical-surgical nursing apart as a specialty throughout the last 32 years.
I was honored to award longtime AMSN member and volunteer, Caroline Ashman, with the AMSN President’s Award for her work with the Med-Surg Moments podcast and for the many years of teaching the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Review Course. This award is given to an AMSN member who has provided years of service to AMSN as a volunteer leader, and I was so excited to be able to honor Caroline this year for her years of service since 2008. Caroline was one of the podcast’s original hosts and did this for five years. She has provided her voice, advice, knowledge, and insights to so many of us through her work with AMSN. Check out this podcast interview recorded live from Toronto and featuring Caroline as a special guest!
AMSN President's Award winner Caroline Ashman and AMSN President Marisa Streelman
Overall, there were so many high points to this year’s convention. For me, this was a memorable event as my last convention as president. I was blown away with the number of attendees I was able to take pictures with, talk with, and discuss the ways to become more involved with AMSN and in their own nursing communities. As always, after the AMSN Convention, I came away feeling energized and planning my convention for next year!
See y’all in Austin, Texas, for the 2025 AMSN Convention!