Kansas Emergency Nurses Association

State Council Meeting

August 14, 2009

Attendance:

Members: Carol Kappelman, Brian Selig, Elaine Swisher, Janie Schumaker, Darlene Whitlock, Susan McDaniel, Aggie Weigel, Carol Groen, Marcina Doze, Diane Haines, Julie Unruh, Karlene Baxa, Patti Russell, Jenny McCracken, Denise Spaeth, Stella Riney, Dixie Pomeroy, Lynnette Kornelson, Jane Ross, Charla Holman, Deb Veatch, Cindy Reazin, Teri Thomas, Tyler Kaiser, Marcie Pray

Call to Order: Meeting was called to order by the State President, Carol Kappelman at 10:30am. Introductions were made.

Approval of Agenda: Motion made to approve the agenda. Seconded. Motion carried.

Minutes Review: Motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes with the following corrections:

• Under President’s report, it should read that there are six trauma regions, not seven, and that the letters were mailed to the Chairman of the Advisory Board on Trauma rather than the state regions.
• Under President’s report, Carol will ‘remain’ Senator Roberts’ EN411, rather than will ‘become’.
• Page 3, Bylaws Committee report, section f should read “August” meeting rather than September
• Page 5, Injury Prevention Committee report, section c, should ready “letters were sent to the six regions” instead of “will be sent to the seven regions”.
• Page 5, Injury Prevention Committee report, section d should read “Scholarship Committee” rather than “scholarship fund”.

President’s Report:

• Carol reported on the new ENA website. She encouraged people to get on the site www.ena.org. If you have issues signing on, please call the online service number on the site.
• Emergency nurse online triage course and Orientation course are available online for purchase if anyone is interested
• Call for committees are posted online for 2010. Deadline is Aug 31, 2009.
• We received a letter thanking us for our donation of $795. This was because of donations to the purple bag fund.
• There are online educational opportunities on the ENA website.
• Still in need for EN 411 for 3^rd Congressional District of Kansas. Must live in the district in order to be considered. We need to reach David Samuelson who is the 2^nd District EN411. Brian will have him contact Carol Kappelman to see if he is still interested in this position.
• There is a state president’s conference call on Aug 20, 2009. Please contact Carol if you have items that she should discuss on that call.
• Delegates for the national conference should have received an acknowledgement letter. Carol confirmed that everyone had received their notice. See Lynette for your checks. Let Carol know if you have not received yours.

President-Elect’s Report:

• Darlene Whitlock sat in on a few of the President’s phone conferences and a few other conferences and is going to register an official request that committee meetings are placed online so that others may attend.

Board Liaison Report:

• No report

Treasurer’s Report:

• Lynette Kornelson reported that she received a note from National informing us that we received $1000 for a TNCC and other courses grant. There will probably be another $1000 coming soon.
• We are right on track with budget, and should be fine at the end of the month. August is a big month for disbursements because of the national conference.
• There are no CDs coming up that need to be addressed.
• Trauma Summit – 55 in attendance, which is down from previous years. Expenses for the rental of the center and for meals were $2700 and we made $700 on registrations.
• Received a letter from the Kansas Trauma Program about the grants we were going to distribute giving input as to where the funds should be disbursed. Each region will be given $1000 for teaching TNCC courses, and will be disbursed to one hospital in each region. Checks will be sent to each region who will then disburse the funds.
• Darlene reported that the bill for the Kansas Trauma Summit was $62.90 which covered printing and the CEU’s. Darlene would like the Kansas ENA to give an honorarium to the physician who presented, and to Kim Nutting. She suggested an amount of $150 for the physician Dr. Kahndelwel. Lynnette suggested that gift cards might be more appropriate. Lynnette motioned that we buy 2 gift cards to Barnes & Nobel in the amount of $100 and send them to these two speakers. Motion seconded. Motion carried.
• Lynnette discussed insuring our assets up to $100,000. The ENA does have $20,000 in coverage. The accountant that she spoke to suggested that we purchase insurance/bond coverage of $100,000, which would cost $131 per year. This will be discussed later in Old Business.
• Motion entered to accept the Treasurer’s Report as presented. Motion seconded. Motion carried.

Committee Reports:

1. Communication Committee:
1. Stella Riney reported that the reminder cards for upcoming meetings should be coming out at least 2 weeks prior to all meeting dates.
2. Strategic Planning Committee:
1. Denise Spaeth reported that no additional meetings had been held. No new report. Planning a vote in December on the updated strategic plan.
3. Bylaws Committee:
1. Susan McDaniel reported that proposed bylaws changes have been placed on the Kansas ENA website. Will be voting on those changes later today.
4. Education Committee and Trauma Summit:
1. Jane Ross reported that the two speakers have been confirmed for the November 13, 2009 Fall Education Seminar.

i. She recommends holding the event at the Hughes Center in Wichita. A room is available that holds 448 people and it can be set up classroom style and will accommodate lunch as well. Catering is also provided by this venue. The room costs $300 for 6 hours, or $400 for 12 hours.

ii. She recommends that the conference should cost about $50 per attendee, and would like to have 200 attendees in order to break even.

iii. Hotel accommodations are not close to this venue, but getting to and from the event from hotels are relatively easy.

iv. Would also like to consider having nursing students attend for free.

2. Darlene Whitlock reported on the Trauma Summit.

i. We paid $2699.13 for food, but didn’t have as many attendees as originally planned, which accounts for some of the extra expense.

ii. Evaluations from participants were discussed and passed around so everyone could read them to determine if this event should continue next year. Generally all of the evaluations were very positive. Most all of the instructors had evaluation scores in the high “4’s” on a 5-point scale.

iii. A discussion was held about putting this event on the Kansas ENA website. This year it was not on the website which could have impacted attendance.

iv. A discussion was held about possibly lowering the cost to non-ENA members to help increase attendance and to market it better to non-members. Potential marketing suggestions include advertising in the KSBN newsletter and the Kansas City Nursing News. Current summit pricing for non-members was $40.

5. General Assembly/Nominating Committee:
1. Carol reported for Gwen Philbrook on the Kansas State Council elections:

i. 294 ballots were mailed. 65 were returned for a 22% response rate. One ballot was not in its valid envelope and was not counted.

ii. Results:

1. President-Elect – Brian Selig

2. Secretary – Elaine Swisher

3. Treasurer – Lynnette Kornelson

4. Board of Directors – Deb Veach & Jane Ross

6. Government Affairs Committee:
1. Jenny McCracken reported that federal funding has been approved for assisting instructors in nursing schools. More information can be found on the government affairs portion of the ENA national website.
2. It was suggested that Janie Shoemaker become the EN411 for District 3 in Kansas.
7. Fundraising Committee:
1. Charla Holman reported that the purple bag collections have been a big success. She would like to continue using the bag at every meeting and we can either use it for scholarships, or identify other areas where these funds can be used. Motion was made to keep using the purple bag to collect funds. Motion seconded. Motion carried.
2. Pins are still available for $5.
8. Membership Committee:
1. Marcina Doze reported that announcements were sent out asking for new members to the Kansas ENA. She received lots of response back from people, so hopefully membership will increase.
9. Certification Committee:
1. Janie Shoemaker reported that there has not been much activity on the Certification Chair website.
2. There is a new CPEN certification available and the CFRN and a transport certification. Discussions are being held by the chairs about what is being done to help increase certifications.
3. Discovered that other chapters are contracting with people to come in and give a CEN review course, charging $200 for an ENA member, and $296 for a non-ENA member to take the class. She would like for this council to pursue something of this nature to help increase advanced certifications.
10. Media Relations Committee:
1. Janie Shoemaker reported that there are several news outlets looking to talk with nurses about violence in the workplace. CNN has been doing stories on the topic of Emergency Nurses being abused at work. Also had an opportunity for nurses to talk about their own experiences at a hospital from a patient safety perspective.
11. Student Nurse Relations Committee:
1. Darlene reported that she called several Schools of Nursing and told them about the ENA and our scholarship. She received a call back reporting that the scholarship information on the website is over 2 years old. There was interest on their part though.
12. Trauma/ENPC Committee:
1. Darlene reported that there are several classes scheduled.
2. Evaluations are not being returned in large quantities any more, but they are no longer required.
3. There is an instructor course for TNCC in Salina on Oct 5, 2009. The North Central trauma council is trying to increase their number of instructors.
4. Via Christy had an instructor course in June 2009.
5. A request has been made for a printout of the slides. Darlene will check with the national committee to see if this is allowable within their guidelines and instructors could copy those for their students.
6. Fewer ENPC classes are being scheduled.
7. No report on CATN.
13. Injury Prevention Committee:
1. No official report.
2. Darlene sat in on the Injury Prevention conference call. There will be a supplement in the Journal on Trauma that talks about injury prevention and Tiffany Streever will be in that article.
14. Scholarship Committee:
1. Charla reported that the Kansas ENA website has the old scholarship information on it. It is incorrectly posted on the website that the scholarship is $1000 each. A discussion was held to identify the correct information.
2. The scholarship committee will meet after the State Council meeting today to discuss the issue in “a” above and make a final conclusion as to how much each scholarship will be worth.
3. Currently there are five applicants for this scholarship.
15. Nursing Practice:
1. Lynette discussed high contamination rates for UAs and wanted to know how others collected these specimens.

i. One member reported that they just concluded a study where the patient was instructed with three towels and actually worked with the patient to collect the sample. This resulted in a much reduced contamination rate.

ii. Kids that are not potty trained are all using cath specimens and no one reported that they are using the collection bags any more.

2. Lynnette wanted to know if any patients or families have been taking pictures on cell phones and posting them online.

i. Others reported that this was a concern in their areas as well. Most agreed that being direct with the patient and/or family was the best way to stop this practice.

ii. Several have signs up in the patient rooms, and some have security confiscate any devices where pictures have been taken.

3. Lynnette wanted to know how long people waited after cleaning a bed before placing a patient in it.

i. Most discussion indicated that there was a 5 minute delay between cleaning and patient placement.

4. Janie wanted to know if anyone was using a sepsis screen in triage.

i. Several people commented that they had methods for doing a sepsis screen that automatically increased a patient’s acuity.

16. ACT, EMSC, Safe Kids, EMS:
1. Darlene reported that the triage decision scheme guidelines are getting more and more controversial because they talk about taking patients to the highest level of care and bypassing local hospitals.
2. ACT is doing fall prevention workshops. Anyone involved in regional trauma counsels be ready for it.
3. Safe Kids – nothing to report.
4. EMS – working electronic medical records, nothing significantly new to report.
5. Nurse Consultant course on Oct 10 in Kansas City if anyone is interested contact Darlene.
6. Stormont Vail trauma summit will be held on Aug 28. Jean Proehl will be presenting on critical thinking 6p-8p that evening. Cost is $20 to hear Jean Proehl. Can be done in advance or at the door.

Chapter Reports:

EKENA

• Elaine Swisher reported that the next meeting will be at Zig and Macs in Lawrence.
• A presentation will be given on Sepsis in the ED. Baskets will be done for distribution in October. Elections were held.

ENACK

• Swimming party was held last month. Education done on swimming and water safety. Next meeting will be Sept 28^th at Carriage Crossing.

Old Business:

• Letter – Nurse Jackie
• Last meeting we decided that we would submit a letter to the producers of this show discussing our displeasure with their portrayal of Emergency Nursing. Carol received a letter from the David Westman of the National ENA concerning this issue. National ENA has chosen to not publicly comment on the program.
• A discussion was held about whether or not to continue to send our letter as planned. Because national ENA has come out and stated that they will not publicly comment on this show, a motion was made to forgo sending out this letter as planned. Motion was seconded. Motion carried.
• Insurance of assets
• Discussion of the purchase of additional insurance and bonding of the Kansas State Chapter of the ENA.
• $131 per year is the cost of the insurance. Covers attorneys and court fees up to $100,000 through Cincinnati Insurance Company.
• Fidelity bond serves to protect an employer from loss in the event that its employees participate in a negligent action.
• Lynnette reviewed the above with the council. A motion was made and approved in the previous meeting to purchase this insurance.
• Location of Secretary Notebook
• Carol will be providing Brian with copies of the minutes and attendance that she has but we need to get the notebook back if possible.

New Business:

• Vote on Bylaw/Policy & Procedure proposal

• Motion made to dispense with reading of the bylaws and move on to discussion. Motion seconded. Motion carried.
• Discussion was held on the proposed drafts to the current bylaws.
• Proposed changes to the Draft version of Bylaws:
• Article III, Section I
• Remove last sentence
• Article II , Intro
• Change “territory” to “State”
• Article III, Section III, A.
• Remove last sentence
• Article III, Section III, D.
• Add “and State Council” to the end of the last sentence
• Article IV, Section I, 5v.
• Remove “and files a copy of the same with the national office”
• Article IV, Section I, 5ii.
• Add “and files proposed budget copy with national office prior to March 1 of each year”
• Article IV, Section I, 6ii.
• Remove “from the year past”
• Article IV, Section V and Section VI
• Change all references of “Board of Directors” to “Kansas State Council”
• Article VII, Section I
• Change “10^th Edition” to “latest edition”
• Article VIII, Section I
• Change “under the signature of two-thirds of all Active Members” to “or any member”
• Article VIII, Section III
• Remove “State/Chapter” and change to “State”
• Article XI, Paragraph I
• Change “services rendered” to “approved expenses incurred”
• Article VIII, Section 4
• Add “present at the Annual Meeting” to the end of final sentence.
• Article XI
• Change spelling of “posses” to “possess”
• Proposed changes to draft of Procedure Manual
• None
• Motion was made to send the Bylaws and Policy & Procedure Drafts back to committee for editing and other reworking as discussed above. Motion seconded. Motion carried.

• Magnet Mail, broadcast emails – State participation proposal
• Carol read a letter about the idea of using Magnet mail to send out broadcast emails to state members.
• 60 day window starting July 16 in which states can sign up for a waived fee.
• Usage charges are 1.5 cents per email address. States get the benefit of Magnet mail spam checker.
• Training provided at no cost. Use of tracking tool is no cost.
• Template is customized with state logo and is at no cost.
• Motion made to purchase this service. Motion seconded.
• Amendment made to do more research first and see if there are additional maintenance fees or other hidden charges. Amendment motion fails.
• Original motion to participate in Magnet mail carries.

Other Business:

• Delegates to the national convention need to give shirt sizes and money for shirts to Jane Ross.
• Shirts are also available for purchase for all members.

Next Meeting:

• The next meeting of the Kansas State Council will be on September 25, 2009 in Hutchinson, KS at 10:30am.

Respectfully Submitted,

Brian Selig, RN, BSN, MHA, CEN