Celebrating Successes and the Bright Future Ahead

This was originally published in the Q4 2023 issue of Med-Surg Nurse Life Magazine.

My first AMSN Annual Convention is in the books. I am grateful to be part of such a wonderful group and thrilled to support the membership. In case you missed it, mark your calendars for the 2024 AMSN Annual Convention in Toronto, Sept. 12–14, 2024. There is something extraordinary about hosting so many people with a shared purpose. It was a chance to meet the membership and introduce myself, and an opportunity to learn more about the vital role of medical-surgical nurses. Associations exist to give members a platform, so they have a collective voice to advocate and guide the work of medical-surgical nurses forward for the betterment of the nurse and patient.

As an association, we have a lot of work to do, but I learned a long time ago that you can’t manufacture enthusiasm and engagement when it is not there among the members. Spend any time on the convention floor or hearing from one of the many speakers, and you know compassion, commitment, and connection aren’t just taglines for our members. They are there to care for patients, dedicated to improving their work and forging lasting communities.

We have room to grow our memberships, enlarge our advocacy footprint, and create a powerful, unique annual convention that builds on our momentum. The new staff team and I are ready to guide this work. I look forward to the successes ahead of us, but it will come about only with the members who devote their time and value the shared community.

A perfect example is the AMSN Board of Directors. They all have “day jobs” and families and lives of their own, yet they devote significant time and attention to strategically guiding AMSN toward its best future. Many have similar stories: a happenstance awareness of AMSN, a recommendation from a colleague about the group, or support from their employer to attend a convention for the first time, all of which lead to more involvement and a greater understanding of AMSN’s value and — ultimately for them — a leadership role in AMSN.

Don’t keep AMSN a secret. If you were at the convention, tell your team about it. When you find value in an AMSN webinar or event, share those learnings. For those with a CMSRN certification, highlight those credentials proudly for all to see. The future looks bright for us, and the energy at the convention was palpable. Get excited about our future, and stay tuned as this association begins its next phase.