ENA Board holds town hall meeting

Among the issues addressed by the ENA Board of Directors at the town hall meeting Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., were the ENA Government Affairs Committee, a workplace violence narrative study and selling only made-in-America products at ENA Marketplace.

"The Government Affairs Committee is alive and well," said 2013 President-Elect Deena Brecher, MSN, RN, APRN, ACNS-BC, CEN, CPEN, in response to a member’s question about the committee’s status. The committee was integral to the planning of the Advocacy Intensive held in Chicago in January, Brecher added.

ENA’s advocacy efforts are being led in Washington, D.C., by Richard Mereu, JD, MBA, the organization’s new chief government relations officer. Mereu shares office space with the American College of Emergency Physicians and reported that the two organizations have been collaborating on an issue-by-issue basis.

Lisa Wolf, PhD, RN, CEN, FAEN, director of the ENA Institute for Emergency Nursing Research, updated members on the status of a study of workplace violence narratives. The IENR is analyzing 46 narratives submitted by emergency nurses who experienced violence in the ED; Wolf anticipates that a manuscript will be completed this summer. Two clinical components of the study may become clinical articles, she said.

JoAnn Lazarus, MSN, RN, CEN, 2013 president, said the board would bring a request that ENA Marketplace only sell products manufactured in the U.S. back to the ENA office for investigation. She encouraged members to submit additional questions to their board liaisons and to her weekly president’s blog.

Amy Carpenter Aquino